The Pittsburgh Steelers’ T.J. Watt made NFL history this season when he became the first player to lead the league in sacks in three different years. He has finished each season in which he has been healthy with more sacks than anybody else since 2020, and became just the fourth player to record at least 19 sacks in a season multiple times.
That still doesn’t make him one of the top edge defenders in the league, however, for Pro Football Focus. The loveable scamps just posted their own All-Pro List, which of course holds no water, and to nobody’s surprise, they left Watt off entirely. Not the first team. Not the second team. He simply is not one of the four best edge rushers in the league. Gordon McGuinness can take a stab at explaining:
Edge defender is the most difficult position to decipher, with elite pass rushers such as T.J. Watt, Trey Hendrickson and Aidan Hutchinson missing out. The position’s highest PFF pass-rushing grades belong to Myles Garrett (94.8) and Micah Parsons (93.7). Garrett and Parsons also led the way in pass-rush win rate, with Garrett winning 28.1% of his reps this season and Parsons at 24.2%.
Indeed, Garrett and Parsons made the outlet’s first-team All-Pro unit, backed up by Nick Bosa and Maxx Crosby. Watt finished fifth in their site grades on the season for edge defenders at 91.9, behind Crosby’s 92.0, just missing the cut.
He did rank fourth in their pass rush grades, behind Garrett, Parsons, and Bosa, Crosby falling to 16th in that measure. Crosby had the highest run-defense grade for the position, however, while Watt ranked tied for eighth, yet still above both Garrett and Parsons.
In terms of pass rush productivity, Watt also ranked fifth there, behind Parsons, who was head and shoulders above everybody. Trey Hendrickson and Josh Allen followed, with Garrett fourth. Nick Bosa was seventh, behind Khalil Mack, tied with Watt.
It’s hard to ignore the reality, however, that Wass finished the season with 4.5 more sacks than anybody who made PFF’s All-Pro team. Crosby was closest with 14.5, Parsons and Garrett behind him by half a sack with an even 14. Garrett did not play in the season finale. He finished with one sack in his final six games.
According to Pro Football Reference, Watt led the NFL not just in sacks but also quarterback hits with 36, one more than Bosa and three more than Parsons, Garrett, idle in the finale, six behind. His 19 tackles for loss were fifth, with Crosby leading the NFL at 23. He and Garrett finished the season with four forced fumbles apiece, neither of the others having more than two.
Statistically, there isn’t an argument to be made that Watt was not the best defender in football this year. That is, if you use the more measurable statistics and don’t rely on such subjectively reliant concepts as pass rush win rate, leaving it up to the observer to determine when a rush is won.
Of course, there is no fear of Watt missing out on the actual All-Pro List after the season he had. At least that should be a reasonable enough assumption. The bigger question is if he will win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. The betting line isn’t so sure.
