Coming off a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber season that saw him produce 19.0 sacks, one interception and truly wreck games in big spots, Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt is firmly in the discussion as not only the best EDGE defender in football, but also the best defensive player in football, period.
Or, he should be.
Pro Football Focus, shockingly, doesn’t see it that way.
Ranking the NFL’s top 32 EDGE defenders Thursday, PFF’s Trevor Sikkema ranked Watt at No. 4, behind Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, Dallas’ Micah Parsons, and San Francisco’s Nick Bosa.
Unsurprisingly, PFF cited Watt’s pass-rush win rate as a reason he is fourth behind those three names.
“Watt led the NFL in sacks in 2023 (19) and placed fourth in pass-rush grade (91.7). Watt’s 16.2% pass-rush win rate is what puts him fourth on this list, but he’s still in Tier 1 for his consistent one-on-one success,” Sikkema writes for PFF.com.
The pass-rush win rate is a tiresome discussion. You either win and have an impact on the play, or you don’t. More often than not, Watt is impacting the play — and the game. Despite his low pass-rush win rate, Watt led the NFL in sacks for the third time in his career and was near the top of the leaderboard in pressures recorded.
Is that not the whole point of rushing the passer? Either sack the QB or pressure him?
Regardless of his pass-rush win rate, Watt is a superstar and had an incredible 2023 season, putting him closer and closer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was healthy and on the field all season and dominated each and every week.
Watt had at least at least one sack in 13 of 17 games on the year. He was a force against the run, too, added an interception and scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble return helping the Steelers win a game early in the season against the Cleveland Browns.
He very clearly took the loss to Garrett for DPOY personally and could be in for a monster year in 2024.
Opposite Watt, veteran Alex Highsmith landed at No. 19 in PFF’s rankings, putting him between New York Jets’ EDGE Haason Reddick and Houston defensive end Will Anderson Jr.
“T.J. Watt isn’t the only edge rusher of note on the Steelers’ defensive line. Highsmith earned an elite 90.2 overall grade in 2023 with an 85.9 pass-rush grade,” Sikkema writes. “His 18.1% pass-rush win rate and 69 total pressures were both career highs, and he has 21.5 sacks over the past two years.”
Though he saw a drop in sacks from 2022 to 2023, going from 14.5 to 7.0, Highsmith was an absolute force for the Steelers. He finished among the 10 highest-graded edge defenders on the season from PFF at 90.3 and did it all for the Steelers. He had two interceptions, including a pick-six, and added two forced fumbles.
While he has made a name for himself as an impactful pass rusher, Highsmith was quietly the Steelers’ best run defender for a long stretch, consistently setting the edge as teams tried to run away from Watt.
To his credit, even with the drop in sacks, Highsmith had arguably the best, most complete year of his career. Recently, Highsmith was named the Steelers’ most underrated player, which is quite accurate. He doesn’t get as much attention as Watt or as much love, but he’s nearly as good and one of the best in the league overall.
