AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said his team is preparing for the San Francisco 49ers as if reigning Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa, who is sitting out amid a contract dispute, will play Sunday.
“Yeah, we’re getting ready for Bosa,” Tomlin told reporters Tuesday (h/t Kevin Patra of NFL.com) while referencing the Steelers’ “same situation” with their own edge-rusher superstar, TJ Watt.
“It’s smart for us to think he’s going to go there and prepare in that vein, as opposed to being surprised. We were in a similar situation with a dynamic rush a few years ago at TJ. We got a deal on th- eleven. Time. He showed up at the stadium, and he was TJ Watt that day. That’s what those guys did. They showed up, and they were them.”
Drafting Bosa is probably the smart move for Pittsburgh because of the player’s destructive nature on the field. He recently amassed an NFL-high 18.5 sacks en route to leading the top-scoring defense in football.
Aside from his injury-shortened 2020 campaign, Bosa led the 49ers to NFC Championship Game appearances in each of his three healthy seasons (2019, 2021, 2022), reaching the Super Bowl in his rookie year.
This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.
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