As the regular season winds to a close this week and the NFL playoffs are just around the corner, a number of media members and outlets are starting to roll out their All-Pro teams, especially in light of the AFC and NFC Pro Bowl announcements that occurred Thursday morning.
In case you missed it, four Steelers were named to the Pro Bowl for the AFC.
When it comes to All-Pros this season, the Steelers should have a handful of them, particularly on defense and on special teams. T.J. Watt is having a strong season from a sacks and turnovers perspective while Cameron Heyward has turned back the clock and Chris Boswell is the best kicker in the game.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell released his first- and second-team All-Pro nods on Thursday for ESPN.com, and in they included some puzzling decisions regarding the Steelers.
Heyward, who should find himself in NFL Defensive Player of the Year discussions, earned a first-team All-Pro nod from Barnwell. Shockingly Watt didn’t even receive a second-team nod, which Barnwell attempted to explain by leaning heavily on pressures and pressure rate while largely glossing over Watt’s actual impact plays like sacks, tackles for loss and turnovers forced on the year.
Barnwell chose Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson and Cleveland’s Myles Garrett for first-team All-Pro, and tabbed Houston’s Danielle Hunter and Minnesota’s Jonathan Greenard as second-team All-Pros.
“And then there’s T.J. Watt, who is one of the favorites to win Defensive Player of the Year and doesn’t even figure into my top four. He has made a number of huge plays at critical times for the Steelers by forcing fumbles, but he ranks 65th in pressure rate among players who rush the quarterback at least 20 times per game, per NFL Next Gen Stats,” Barnwell writes of why Watt didn’t earn an All-Pro nod from him.
Watt doesn’t have the pressure numbers he’s had in the past, which is in large part due to the way offenses are scheming against him, sliding protections his way, chipping him with a tight end or a running back, and focusing on getting the ball out quick.
At times, it’s negated Watt’s impact. However, he still has found ways to impact games even when he can’t get home as a pass rusher. But Barnwell is caught up on the pressure numbers.
“I prefer the quick quarterback pressure stat, which measures how often a pass rusher gets after the opposing quarterback within 2.5 seconds of the snap. Watt ranks 47th by that metric, at a rate (3.3%) less than half of what teammates [Nick] Herbig (9.4%) and Alex Highsmith (7%) have put together across from the future Hall of Famer,” Barnwell writes. “The Steelers actually have a better pressure rate without Watt on the field (31.1%) than they do with him between the lines (29.9%).
“Watt’s double-team rate (14.5%) is half of what elite edge rushers [Micah] Parsons and Myles Garrett have put together this season. Those big plays late in games matter more than typical sacks, of course, and Watt’s 19 tackles for loss ranks second in the league, but he has been more about the splash plays than drive-to-drive impact as a pass rusher this season.”
Once again, double-team rate doesn’t take into account chips, and Watt is the most chipped and doubled EDGE defender in football, and it’s not close.
He’s had a quiet year for his standards overall, but he’s still a great player, is the Steelers’ Team MVP for a fifth year, leads the NFL in forced fumbles and has a knack for showing up in big spots time and time again. Just not on Barnwell’s All-Pro team, apparently.
Heyward is very deserving, though, and is arguably the best defensive lineman in football, and doing so at 35 years old.
“Is this guy ever going to age? Heyward is in the middle of one of the best age-35 seasons by a defender in NFL history. He has racked up eight sacks and 20 knockdowns on the interior. He has batted down eight passes, which shouldn’t be possible for a guy on the tail end of his career,” Barnwell writes. “Jumping to knock down throws is typically a young man’s game. He had nine passes defensed in 2021 but just five over 28 games across the past two seasons; eight is more than some cornerbacks will have over a full season.
“And then Heyward adds even more as a run defender. His 8.2% stop rate leads all defensive linemen.”
There were a lot of questions about Heyward entering the year, considering his age and the fact that he was coming off of an injury-plagued 2023 season. But he’s put all of those concerns to rest and is dominant week after week.
He should be a shoo-in for the AP’s first-team All-Pro accolade this season.
Things get rather crazy after that for Barnwell as the ESPN writer gave Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen and cornerback Joey Porter Jr. second-team All-Pro nods.
No, seriously.
Queen is a second-team All-Pro linebacker for Barnwell behind Philadelphia’s Zach Baun and Washington’s Frankie Luvu. Porter is a second-team All-Pro cornerback behind Denver’s Patrick Surtain II, Houston’s Derek Stingley Jr. and New England’s Christian Gonzalez.
Queen has largely been a disappointment in his first year with the Steelers after signing a big deal in free agency. He was a second-team All-Pro last year in Baltimore, but in Pittsburgh he’s missing tackles at an alarming rate, hasn’t made the splash plays that were expected, has been targeted heavily in coverage, and is the hub of communication of a defense that is struggling to communicate late in the year.
That doesn’t scream All-Pro.
Neither does Porter, who is one of the more penalized corners in the NFL and hasn’t had an impactful second season in the NFL. He does have one interception on the season, but he’s allowed 49 completions for 625 yards.
Porter hasn’t given up a touchdown, but he’s been called for 15 penalties on the season. That’s a huge number.
Where things settle back down for Barnwell is the selection of Boswell as a first-team All-Pro kicker. He’s the best in the game, Mr. Automatic, edging out Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey, and rightfully so.
