PAYING FOR MORE PRODUCTION
DE Tuitt has a big contract and Steelers are hoping he will make it a bargain
Stephon Tuitt went back to his alma mater, Notre Dame, in the offseason to continue work toward his undergraduate degree in psychology. He has two semesters remaining and plans to return to school in February.
“Right after we win the Super Bowl,” Tuitt said. “That’s what I told them.”
Tuitt, who enters his sixth season as a Steelers starting defensive end, doesn’t need a degree in psychology to understand what motivates him. Getting to the Super Bowl and winning the Steelers’ seventh Lombardi Trophy remains at the top of the list.
If there are two players on the Steelers defense who need to earn their money and help them do that, it is Tuitt and outside linebacker Bud Dupree, who is being paid $ 9,232,000 in 2019 in the option year of his contract.
Tuitt is one of the highestpaid defensive linemen in the NFL, but his production has not been commensurate with his paycheck. The Steelers are hoping that will change in 2019.
“This is his sixth year in the league,” defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. “He should know everything about what’s going on around him, what it takes for him to be successful.”
Tuitt signed a monster contract in 2017 that made him the seventh highestpaid defensive end in the league, behind the likes of Aaron Donald, J. J. Watt and
DeMarcus Lawrence, and more than his All- Pro linemate, Cam Heyward.
Tuitt was rewarded with a six- year, $ 64 million contract one day before the season opener in Cleveland, and for two plays it looked as if it was the prudent decision.
But Tuitt’s numbers don’t begin to compare to the sack totals registered by other high- salaried lineman.
He has just 20 sacks in 70 games in five seasons and has never had more than 6 ½ in a season ( 2015).
By comparison, Heyward has 37 ½ sacks in the same amount of games ( 70) since 2014, despite facing constant double- teams.
Tuitt said he doesn’t put pressure on himself to live up to his contract.
“Of course, when you sign a contract like that, it’s a huge honor for the organization to even think of you to be a player with that opportunity,” Tuitt said.
“I wouldn’t say I live up to anything, I just have to keep my expectations high for myself. The thing is, this is the NFL. You motivate yourself, and every guy out here has motivated themselves to do something with their opportunity.”
Asked if he has set any personal goals about what he would like to accomplish in 2019, Tuitt said, “To just be better than what I was last year. That’s always the same every year, look at the mistakes I made and become a better football player.”
Tuitt, though, has time on his side.
He just turned 26 in May, so he would appear to be entering the prime of his career. He is a big man ( 6 feet 6, 310 pounds) who can run, and two years ago it looked as if he was ready for a big season when he disrupted the first two plays of the game in the 2017 season opener in Cleveland.
However, on the second play, chasing running back Isaiah Crowell out of bounds for a loss, he tore the biceps tendon in his left arm and was never the same the rest of the season. He missed four games and finished with just three sacks, 25 tackles and one forced fumble.
Butler said those two plays still remind him of the type of player Tuitt can be in his defense.
“I think he’s got a tremendous amount of ability, and he’s got to continue to play with that ability,” Butler said.
Butler thinks his threeman line of Tuitt, Heyward and nose Javon Hargrave can be a big factor for the Steelers. The trio combined for 20 of the 52 sacks that tied for the league lead in 2018. Their inside pressure can help create lanes and more opportunities for Dupree and outside linebacker T. J. Watt, who had a team- high 13 sacks last season.
“I look for him and Cam, all three of those guys will be good,” Butler said. “We have to have a good, legit four- man rush. We just can’t rush five all the time.”
Said Tuitt: “I think we got enough strength inside and enough great players to make the quarterback move. What were we last year … tied for the lead? And that’s just getting the quarterback off his mark. And our goal is to do that again.
“My personal goal for myself is to finish strong. At this time in my life, what I want to do, I really want to represent the organization. For me, my goal is to do whatever it takes to help the team out to get a ring.”
And no start classes till mid- February.