Every week the opposing head coach and offensive coordinator talk about having a plan to slow down T.J. Watt. That plan so far has been to chip him at an extremely high rate.
Last season, Watt took some flak for not getting double teamed as often as other players. But what that double-team rate failed to capture was the number of times he was getting chipped by running backs or tight ends to help slow him down.
Pro Football Focus just released a new metric that tracks the chip rate for every pass rusher, and Watt is chipped by far the most of any edge defender in the league.
In his 84 pass-rush snaps, Watt has been chipped 37 times. He is getting chipped on 44.05 percent of his pass-rush opportunities. For context, the next closest edge defender is Denver Broncos OLB Jonathon Cooper with a 22.86-percent chip rate. Yes, that means Watt is being chipped basically twice as often as any other player. He is being chipped three or four times more often than some other notable pass rushers.
Below are the chip rates for some other notable pass rushers:
Maxx Crosby: 105 pass-rush snaps, 21 chips, 20.00 percent
Myles Garrett: 82 pass-rush snaps, 15 chips, 18.29 percent
Aidan Hutchinson: 110 pass-rush snaps, 20 chips, 18.18 percent
Micah Parsons: 86 pass-rush snaps, 14 chips, 16.28 percent
Nick Bosa: 90 pass-rush snaps, 13 chips, 14.44 percent
Last year before the Super Bowl, Parsons tried to downplay Watt’s 2023 performance by saying he didn’t receive that many double teams.
While he might not be receiving true double teams that others do, Watt is still being paid a lot of extra attention in the form of tight ends and running backs chipping him before they continue with their assignments.
PFF showed the 2023 chip rate for comparison, and Watt was only chipped 19.96 percent of the time, slightly behind Garrett for the most in the league. Watt was chipped 110 times all of last season and is already at 37 through three games this year.
If you glance at his stats, it may look like this tactic is working against Watt. He has just three sacks through three games, which is behind his normal pace. But he had two strip-sacks called back due to penalties in Week 1. Make no mistake, Watt is still making a huge impact on the game despite all the extra attention from opposing offenses.
Hopefully stats like this one help Watt’s case at the end of this season as voters try to sort out the Defensive Player of the Year.
