Though he leads the NFL in sacks with 8.0 on the season, grades out as one of the best pass rushers in the game through the season’s first six weeks, and is as consistent a playmaker off the edge as there is in the NFL, there seems to be a debate as to where Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt ranks among his peers in the NFL.
Former NFL running back LeSean McCoy made some interesting headlines Friday, stating that Watt “isn’t Micah Parsons” when it comes the best pass rusher in the game. Though McCoy stated that Watt “is amazing” he said he wasn’t close to the player that Parsons is, which certainly ruffled some feathers in Steeler Nation.
Former NFL offensive lineman Kyle Long, the son of Howie Long and the brother of Chris Long, restored some order to the best pass rusher debate Sunday morning on CBS Sports Network, stating that Watt “is an animal” and is the best pass rusher in football based on his production alone.
“One thing I’m not going to do is scoff at production. When I think about production, the one name that comes to mind is T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Long said regarding Watt as the best pass rusher in the NFL, according to video via the NFL on CBS Twitter page. “The guy’s got eight sacks alongside [Minnesota’s] Danielle Hunter right now. The guy’s on pace for roughly 27 sacks. He’s the all-time Pittsburgh Steelers’ sacks leader with 85.5. I don’t know if you guys understand, that’s an astronomical number. Eight-five and a half, that’s already Hall of Fame.
“T.J. Watt: already a Hall of Famer. And you know what? Every week he finds a way to go out there hurt. Dinged up, banged up, find a way to win. He’s got two fingers that were dislocated two weeks ago and he had two sacks, three sacks after that. T.J. Watt is an animal.”
Watt is an animal, one that consistently finds a way to produce week-in, week-out in the NFL, even when teams are very clearly scheming to try and take him away. Offenses will double team him, chip him with a running back or a tight end and it simply doesn’t matter. He finds a way to get to the quarterback.
What makes Watt so great, too, is his motor. When he’s on the field it constantly runs hot, allowing him to make effort plays in the very rare moments when his elite-level skillset as a pass rusher doesn’t win off the edge. He has great speed, good power, elite hand usage and just knows how to consistently set up opposing tackles for moves, wrecking games.
Though he still has a ways to go before he’s a stone-cold lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there is no denying he’s on pace to be enshrined in Canton when it’s all said and done. And based on the way his 2023 season is going so far, there’s a good chance he’ll own the single-season sacks record all to himself after tying it in 2021, and could have his second Defensive Player of the Year award on his resume.
