For yet another year, T.J. Watt could finish as the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up. That is what an NFL.com panel is predicting for 2024. In its annual preseason voting, Dallas Cowboys LB Micah Parsons edged Watt in the voting, 8 to 7.
Watt tied for second with Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby. Here’s the top five.
1. Micah Parsons – 8 votes
2. T.J. Watt – 7 votes
2. Maxx Crosby – 7 votes
4. Myles Garrett – 2 votes
4. Aidan Hutchinson – 2 votes
If that came true, it would mark the third time Watt finished second in the voting. In 2020, he lost out to Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald, who received 27 votes to Watt’s 20. Watt won silver last year as Myles Garrett took home the trophy 165 voting points to 140 (the voting system has changed since 2020). Watt also finished third in the voting in 2019 behind winner CB Stephon Gilmore and second-place EDGE Chandler Jones.
Parsons, like Garrett last year, is looking for his first DPOY Award. Based on Garrett winning it last year, voters seem inclined to give it to a player who hasn’t won it before. Despite Watt’s superior baseline box-score stats to Garrett’s, there was a sense from the voters that it was Garrett’s “time” to take home the trophy to recognize one of the NFL’s best defenders. That’s faulty logic in a lot of ways but the same could hold true for Parsons, a freak athlete who impacts the game in a variety of ways, maybe even more so than Garrett.
Watt is considered the favorite to lead the NFL in sacks yet again. If so, it’d be the fourth time of his career, something no player since the merger has done and would put him in similar territory as Deacon Jones, the man credited for inventing the word “sack.” Unofficially, Jones led the league in sacks five times throughout his Hall-of-Fame career.
Watt is the only Steeler to appear on the ballot for any of the award categories. Payton Wilson didn’t receive a vote for Defensive Rookie of the Year, though that’s not a shock knowing he won’t be stepping into an every-down role. And Mike Tomlin didn’t receive a vote for Coach of the Year.
The NFL will hold its official award show next year prior to the Super Bowl.
