For the fourth time in five seasons, star outside linebacker T.J. Watt was voted the Pittsburgh Steelers’ MVP by his teammates, the Steelers announced Tuesday.
Watt, who is tied for the league lead in sacks with 17.0 on the season, won three straight team MVPs from 2019-21, and then saw defensive teammate Minkah Fitzpatrick win the award last year. Now he joins Antonio Brown as the only players to win the award four times since its inception in 1969.
Watt has had an incredible 2023 season. After missing seven games last season and finishing with just 5.5 sacks, Watt has returned to his dominant ways in 2023. If he leads the league in sacks for a third-straight season, it would mark the first time in NFL history that one player led the league in sacks three different times.
With 17 sacks on the season, Watt became the seventh player since 1982 with at least 17 sacks in two of his first seven seasons. He’s in rarified air in a number of statistical categories.
Speaking to reporters after being named the Steelers’ team MVP, Watt stated that seeing the respect from his peers in the form of being named team MVP is “super gratifying.”
“Anytime my peers see the amount of work I put in and show they have respect for what I’m trying to do is super gratifying,” Watt said, according to a tweet from the Tribune-Review’s Joe Rutter.
Watt added more regarding his fourth team MVP.
“‘Cause that’s all you want at the end of the day, is to have respect of the people that you work with day in and day out. And just continually trying to get better on and off the field as a leader to try to help this team in any way I possibly can,” Watt added, according to audio provided by the team. “I’d be lying if I told you this didn’t mean something to me. Doesn’t matter how many times it is each and every year, I’m trying to find ways where I can get better and improve.
“I don’t take this honor lightly at all.”
He has the second-most sacks in NFL history in his first 100 games, having passed his brother, J.J., earlier in the season to now sit behind only Hall of Famer Reggie White. Watt also passed former Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison for sacks in franchise history early in the season, sacking Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson in Week Two in a win over the Cleveland Browns to set the franchise’s all-time mark.
Watt now sits at 94.5 career sacks and is on a Hall-of-Fame pace.
