Linebacker T.J. Watt has been named the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 Team MVP. After a vote with ballots cast by the players themselves, Watt took home the award for the team’s 2024 season.
It’s yet another year Watt’s won the award, five out of the last six seasons. As the team’s tweet notes, he’s the first Steeler to ever be named a five-time MVP. WR Antonio Brown won the award four times while RB Jerome Bettis and Hines Ward were each named MVP on three occasions.
Reacting to the news Wednesday, Watt called the award a “great honor” and one he “doesn’t take lightly.”
While his numbers haven’t been quite as gaudy as past seasons, Watt’s been the team’s most impactful pass rusher and remains one of the league’s most-feared players off the edge.
He enters the regular-season finale with 11.5 sacks and a league-best six forced fumbles. Watt also has 27 QB hits, 19 tackles for a loss, and four pass deflections.
Watt broke through the 100-sack barrier to become the second-fastest player in official history to reach triple digits, only behind Reggie White. In typical fashion, Watt has made clutch plays and had a penchant for taking the ball away when Pittsburgh needed it most. He closed out a win over the New York Giants with a strip-sack while forcing two fumbles as the Steelers beat the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6. The attention he consistently sees as the league’s most-chipped player has allowed others along the Steelers’ rush to win 1v1 matchups.
Despite minor ankle and thumb injuries, Watt has stayed healthy throughout the season and hasn’t missed a game, something other EDGE players like Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig were unable to do. Watt remains one of the NFL’s best and could add his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in addition to another Team MVP.
Watt had won the award four out of the previous five seasons, taking home the prize in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023. The only exception occurred in 2022 when FS Minkah Fitzpatrick won it. The last offensive player to be named team MVP was WR JuJu Smith-Schuster in 2018.
The award was first handed out in 1969, won by WR Roy Jefferson in Chuck Noll’s first season as the Steelers’ head coach. A complete list of winners can be seen on the team’s website.
