T.J. Watt has been one of the NFL’s best edge rushers for most of his career. Although he’s only won Defensive Player of the Year once, an argument could be made that he’s deserved the award over some of the other recent winners. If there’s one thing that riles up Pittsburgh Steelers fans, it’s Watt seemingly being disrespected by media outlets and analysts.
One such example would be Pro Football Focus recently ranking Watt outside of its top 10 players going into the 2024 season. However, the list’s author Sam Monson recently appeared on PFF’s YouTube channel and discussed Watt’s placement to defend his decision.
“It’s gonna be interesting when the NFL releases their top 100, the player voted thing,” Monson said. “They tweeted out a bunch of the ballots of players having voted. I didn’t see a single one that had T.J. Watt above Myles Garrett, and that’s one of the things about last season that Steelers fans that are upset that we have this vendetta against T.J Watt have not found an answer to yet. Micah Parsons said Myles Garrett was Defensive Player of the Year. Inside the league, the players were siding with Myles Garrett over T.J. Watt.”
Monson’s point here is that Steelers fans have criticized PFF for consistently ranking Garrett over Watt, even though players are doing the same thing. Last year, PFF’s rationale was that Garrett had greater advanced stats than Watt, an explanation that did not satisfy everyone, especially considering Watt topped Garrett in almost every “traditional” stat.
Monson claims that Steelers fans don’t have an answer to players like Parsons claiming Garrett deserved the award over Watt. But Aaron Donald, maybe the greatest defensive player ever, has said Watt has been snubbed for the Defensive Player of the Year award more than once. Really, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you can’t deny Watt is just as good, if not better, as Garrett.
In that same video, Monson did provide Watt with praise, showing why he believes him to be one of the best pass rushers in the league.
“He’s probably the best pure big-play hunter amongst the edge rusher group. That guy does seem to have a knack of getting sacks, and getting forced fumbles, and getting turnovers in a way none of these other guys do,” Monson said. “I’m willing to concede that he’s been doing it for so long and so consistently that it’s a trait. Normally I would say that’s noise and variance and not something you can bet on one year to the other. Watt’s been doing it so long now I think it’s fair to say he’s got that ability to find those plays.”
PFF has said positive things about the Steelers in the past, showing that the outlet probably doesn’t have a vendetta against them, but this analysis from Monson still raises some questions. If Watt is the best big-play edge rusher in the NFL, then what makes other pass rushers so much better than him? Do turnovers and sacks matter less than pass-rush win-rate? It feels like it creates a contradiction in PFF’s logic.
It’s okay to believe Garrett is the best edge rusher in the NFL, but that list also ranks Nick Bosa and Micah Parsons above Watt. The edge rusher who creates the most big plays is also only fourth-best at his position. It’s not like Watt is a liability anywhere on the field either. He isn’t a boom-or-bust player. Hopefully Watt sees these kinds of criticisms and uses them as motivation for this coming season. At the end of the day, it isn’t individual awards the Steelers are after, but Super Bowls.
