Steelers Injury Updates Steelers News
Steelers Rookie DB Gives Update after Season-Ending Neck Injury

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie defensive back Ryan Watts apparently recently underwent surgery to repair a neck injury that cost him the entire 2024 season.
Watts posted a photograph of himself in a hospital bed to his Instagram account on Saturday, wearing a neck brace.
“This has easily been one of the hardest years of my life,” Watts wrote in a caption. “Through serious injury and all I will remain optimistic because I can do ALL things through HIM. Road to recovery …”

Watts was injured on one of the final plays of the team’s preseason finale against the Detroit Lions on Aug. 25. Watts was originally diagnosed with a stinger, but further evaluation showed a more significant injury.
Watts was placed on the injured reserve list on Aug. 27, before the final cut down to 53 players, ending his 2024 season by rule before it started. After spending a few days in a neck brace initially, Watts remained with the team throughout the 2024 season, often working on his own or in a small group with other players recovering from injury.

Steelers Now learned that Watts was waiting to see if he was going to need to have surgery on the injury. It now appears that was the case.
The injury is similar to the one suffered by Steelers safety Trenton Thompson in 2023. That injury ended Thompson’s season, and eventually his career. He avoided surgery and was able to return in the spring of 2024, but was unable to replicate the performance that earned him a roster spot the previous year and was released. Thompson recently announced his retirement from football.
The prognosis for Watts is unclear at this point. There are four and a half months until rookie minicamp, which is the first time he could be expected to be on the field with his teammates.
The 23-year-old defensive back was the Steelers’ sixth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Texas. A college cornerback, the Steelers moved the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Watts to strong safety, and he appeared to be making an impact at his new position when the injury cut his rookie season short.