T.J. Watt is not this year’s Defensive Player of the Year. But he did come away with one award during Thursday night’s NFL honors. He won this year’s Deacon Jones Award, annually given since 2013 to the player who finishes each season with the most sacks.
An objective award base off pure numbers, Watt couldn’t suffer a controversial loss to Myles Garrett. Watt again paced the league with 19 sacks, becoming the first player in official recorded history to lead the league in sacks three separate seasons. Watt is often credited as the only player to ever do it but Deacon Jones unofficially led the league in sacks five times, ironic given the award is named after him.
Of the three times Watt has led the league in sacks, he’s only won Defensive Player of the Year once, taking home the award in 2021. He finished with a record-tying 22.5 sacks that season, matching Michael Strahan’s official mark.
Since entering the NFL in 2017, no one has come close to the number of sacks Watt has. He’s the only player with at least 90 over that span and has eight more than second place’s Myles Garrett.
Watt started 2023 off with a bang, recording three sacks in a Week One loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Though the first three weeks, he notched six sacks. Consistent throughout the season, he ended the year with a pair of sacks in a critical win over the Baltimore Ravens, helping push Pittsburgh into the playoffs. Watt suffered a sprained MCL during the game, missing the team’s Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Watt did not attend tonight’s NFL honors, skipping out presumably because he knew he would not win this year’s Defensive Player of the Year.
He is the team’s second award winner of the night, joining Cam Heyward, named this year’s Walter Payton Man of the Year.
