Following a down year marred by injury, T.J. Watt is no longer considered the NFL’s top EDGE rusher. At least not according to CBS Sports’ annual rankings. Jeff Kerr put together his list of the top ten EDGE rushers entering 2023, where Watt sat #1 a year ago but has him tied for second this time around.
On his list, Kerr slots San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa at #1. Watt falls down to second, tied with Myles Garrett. On Watt, here’s what Kerr has to say.
“When Watt was on the field, the Steelers defense allowed 16.9 points per game and had 3.2 sacks per game (8-1 record). Without Watt, it allowed 25.3 points and had just 1.1 sacks (1-6 record). No matter if Watt produces or not, Pittsburgh is better when he’s going after quarterbacks.”
Arguably no player in football, not even any quarterback, has such a clear correlation between their presence and team success like Watt. As Kerr’s data shows, when Watt missed the first half of the season with a partially torn pectoral suffered late in Week One, the Steelers’ defense and hopes tanked. The pass rush was nearly non-existent without him and Pittsburgh bottomed out heading into its bye week, blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles and sitting at 2-6 as one of the NFL’s worst teams in football.
Despite Watt never being at 100% when he returned, and dealing with numerous other injuries, the Steelers’ defense looked a whole lot different with him. His impact was felt right away on the opening defensive series against the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh rattled off seven wins after the bye, nearly making its way back into the playoffs.
He enters 2023 looking to return to his gaudy numbers and there’s every reason to believe he’ll be back in the DPOY mix. He also has a great chance of exiting this season as the Steelers’ all-time sack leader, though he’ll battle Cam Heyward to be the first to pass James Harrison.
While fans won’t like to see Watt slip down this list, he’s surrounded by some great competition. Bosa is the 2022 DPOY, finishing the year with a league-high 18.5 sacks. And while Garrett is understandably not well-liked by Steelers Nation, he’s one of football’s freakiest athletes and as talented as just about any player in the league. He’s also the first player since J.J. Watt in 2014-2015 to register back-to-back 16+ sack seasons, doing so in 2021 and 2022.
The AFC North is well-represented on the list. Four of the top ten names hail from that division. In addition to Watt and Garrett, new Browns acquisition Za’Darius Smith comes in at #9 while Cincinnati Bengals’ DE Trey Hendrickson takes the #10 spot.
