Ryan
Watts.
Ryan
Watts.
Texas· 6'3"· 208 lb· 4.53s 40
"A 6-3 corner built like a safety, whose length and hitting made the projection obvious and whose ball production made the price a Day 3 one."Pre-draft read
Outside cornerback with rare length who spent his Texas career as a boundary starter and profiled to the league as a safety convert. Watts pressed with long arms, jammed at the line, and used his reach to re-route bigger receivers before turning to run down the sideline. His movement was smoother than the frame suggested: loose hips, clean transitions, real change of direction at 6-3, 208.
The separator was run support. He triggered downhill from depth, stacked and shed perimeter blocks, and tackled with force. In coverage he was steadiest in zone, eyes on the quarterback, driving on throws in front. Testing backed the tape up — 40.5-inch vertical, 6.82 three-cone — but long speed and ball production set the ceiling, not athleticism.
Zone-heavy defense that plays split-safety shells and asks its box defender to fit the run first
Year 1: core four-phase special teamer and big-nickel run defender in early-down packages. Ceiling: starting box safety who covers tight ends and fits the alley in a Cover 3 / quarters structure.
A man-heavy press-match defense that leaves him isolated on quick, sub-six-foot separators down the sideline, where his long speed and late ball location get exposed.
Pittsburgh drafted him as a corner and moved him to safety in his first spring, confirming the league-wide projection.
Ryan Watts Highlights | 2024 NFL Draft, Round 6 Pick 195
Draft-cycle reel of his Texas coverage and run-support tape.
Ryan Watts vs Oklahoma 2022 | East-West Shrine Bowl breakdown
Long-corner study using his 2022 Red River tape.
Ryan Watts Texas Highlights
Longhorns boundary reps: press jams, zone drives and perimeter tackling.
A four-year defensive back who arrived at Texas as an Ohio State transfer and became one of the most physically imposing corners in the country. Watts was built like a safety and played like one on early downs, which is exactly the identity that made him interesting: size, length, and a willingness to hit that showed up on every perimeter run.
The production never matched the frame. Two seasons as a Longhorns starter produced 89 tackles but only one interception and six pass breakups combined, and 2023 saw receivers complete a high rate of throws into his coverage. He put himself in position often and finished rarely, a ball-skills gap that scouts flagged repeatedly. His best football was in zone with vision on the quarterback, and his best plays were tackles, not takeaways.
The board treated him as a projection rather than a plug-and-play corner. Shrine Bowl invite, a strong Combine for his size, and near-universal calls to move him to safety put him in the Day 3 range. Pittsburgh took him at 195 with exactly that plan — kick him inside, let him run down kicks immediately, and see if the length translated in the box.
- 01
Length
34 1/2-inch arms and an 81 3/4-inch wingspan let him re-route receivers at the line and contest throws he had no business reaching.
- 02
Run support
Triggered downhill from depth with real intent, stacking and shedding perimeter blocks to make tackles at or near the line.
- 03
Tackling
Sound, physical finisher who packed a punch at contact rather than dragging ball carriers down from behind.
- 04
Zone feel
Played with eyes on the quarterback, tempoed his drops well, and drove on throws in front of him with good timing.
- 05
Testing profile
A 40.5-inch vertical, 6.82 three-cone and 4.13 shuttle at 6-3, 208 pounds gave him rare movement for the size.
- 01
Long speed
Struggled to stay attached down the sideline against true burners, and the 4.53 forty showed up on vertical routes.
- 02
Ball skills
Two career interceptions in four seasons; he located late and rarely finished plays he was in position to make.
- 03
Completions allowed
Receivers caught a high percentage of targets against him in 2023 despite consistently tight leverage.
- 04
Technique
Footwork and hand timing came and went in press, and quicker slot-sized receivers separated at the top of routes.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.53sp50
- Vertical
- 40.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 125inp50
- Three-cone
- 6.82sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.13sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Ohio State | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Ohio State | 11 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Texas | 13 | 51 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2023 | Texas | 11 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Career | — | 41 | 99 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
Verified against cfbstats season pages (Ohio State 2020-21, Texas 2022-23); season sums match the career line. Categories cfbstats did not publish for his Ohio State years are left null rather than zero-filled.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Long outside corner who sticks as a special teams contributor and matchup depth piece.
Long, physical box safety who turned run-fit reliability and tackling into a starting job.
Big, toolsy Day 3 defensive back whose career never got traction beyond camp bodies and practice squads.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Pittsburgh drafted him as a corner and moved him to safety almost immediately, which was the plan the entire pre-draft cycle. He worked with the safeties through spring and camp, flashed on special teams, and was tracking toward a coverage-unit role as a rookie. Then, with 1:39 left in the 2024 preseason finale at Detroit, he fell head-first into a ball carrier while making a tackle and could not move his arms or legs. The diagnosis was spinal-cord neuropraxia. He walked off the field, but he never played an NFL regular-season snap.
Follow-up testing changed the outlook. Watts medically retired and Pittsburgh released him in the spring of 2025 with the career-ending injury designation. In hindsight the evaluation itself held up — his tape said big, physical, limited-ball-production defender whose future was in the box, and nothing about his early Steelers reps contradicted that. The verdict on this pick has nothing to do with scouting and everything to do with one snap that ended a career before it started. He is healthy and living a normal life, which is the only outcome that matters here.
Data note: Verified against cfbstats season pages (Ohio State 2020-21, Texas 2022-23); season sums match the career line. Categories cfbstats did not publish for his Ohio State years are left null rather than zero-filled.