As the debate regarding the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year rages on surrounding Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, Dallas’ Micah Parsons and Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin threw his support — unsurprisingly — behind his star outside linebacker Friday morning.
In a tweet quote-tweeting a Jan. 9 post from the NFL’s official page asking if T.J. Watt would claim his second Defensive Player of the Year award this season, Tomlin had a simple one-word answer: Absolutely.
Watt, who will miss the Wild Card Round matchup against the Buffalo Bills with a knee injury suffered in the regular-season finale against the Baltimore Ravens, finished the 2023 season with 19.0 sacks. He led the NFL in sacks for the third time in his career, marking the first time since the sack became an official NFL statistic in 1982 that a player has accomplished the feat.
Not only was the 2023 season special from that standpoint for Watt, he also became just the fourth player in NFL history to have multiple seasons with at least 19 sacks, took over the Steelers’ all-time sacks record, and moved past his older brother, J.J., into second place all-time in career sacks in the first 100 games of his career, putting him behind only Reggie White.
Along with his impressive sack numbers, Watt did it all for the Steelers this season. He had four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, one interception and a touchdown on the year, putting him top five in all those categories at the EDGE position, making him a completely dominant force.
On the year, Watt graded out as the fifth-highest EDGE defender in football from Pro Football Focus on the year at 91.9 overall, finishing behind Garrett, Parsons, San Francisco’s Nick Bosa and Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby. He had the fourth-highest pass rush grade from PFF on the year, finishing behind only Garrett, Parsons and Bosa, and generated 86 pressures, seventh in the NFL and tied with Garrett.
Yet, as of late, the knock on Watt despite his league-leading 19 sacks was his pass-rush win rate. It was just 16.9%, which was lower than teammate Alex Highsmtih (18.0) and was well below Garrett’s at 27.5%, which is used in the argument against him.
We’ll see what happens when it comes to the DPOY award this season. Chances are, Watt won’t win it based on the push from many media members to get Garrett his first. But Tomlin threw his support behind Watt, making it clear who should be the rightful DPOY.
