With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season at an end in a bitter loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wildcard Round, it’s time to look to the future already. There will be plenty to wrap up over the next several months as players come and go, including re-signings, releases, draft picks, perhaps trades, and who knows what else.
We will also inevitably take stock of who had good seasons, who had bad seasons, who improved their position, who hurt theirs. In case you haven’t noticed, the NFL has long turned itself into a 365-day business (366 during leap years), so we’ll always have something to discuss.
Player: OLB T.J. Watt
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The Steelers’ most important and most valuable player on the roster played like it throughout the season. Rarely did Watt look like he wasn’t affecting the game when he was on the field. He should be rewarded with his second Defensive Player of the Year Award, but indications suggest it will go to Myles Garrett instead.
Prior to the 2021 season, the Steelers’ all-time single-season sack record was 16. James Harrison set the mark in 2008, breaking a decades-old record of 15.5. Watt has surpassed it twice in the past three seasons, comfortably, the only exception being the year in which he was injured.
After tying the all-time NFL single-season sack record of 22.5 in 2021, Watt led the NFL in sacks for the third time in his career this past season. He finished the season with 19, approaching 100 for his career and becoming one of few players with two seasons of 19-plus sacks.
Not only did he bring the quarterback down—36 more times, including hits—he also had 19 tackles for loss, an interception, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries. He returned one of them for his first career touchdown while also matching a career-high with eight passes defended.
Watt remains the most complete edge defender in the NFL, having reached the point at which his greatness is taken for granted and often overlooked. He’s not always the flashiest player. Myles Garrett is more powerful. Micah Parsons is quicker. But his year-in, year-out production is undeniable.
Which makes it all the more unfortunate that he suffered a knee injury in the second half of the regular season finale that kept him out of the Steelers’ playoff game. He may not have made enough of a difference to turn a loss into a win, but it wouldn’t have hurt.
His final game of the year saw him record eight tackles, including three for loss, with two sacks. It was his sixth multi-sack game of the season in comparison to only four games in which he failed to record one.
As we’ve talked about, though, indications point to Garrett being the favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. He received more first-team All-Pro votes than did Watt, though both of them made it. The votes have already been cast, but the results won’t be announced until just before the Super Bowl.
