On the defensive side of the ball, one of the most important roles is the pass rusher. As the league’s offenses have shifted further and further toward prioritizing the pass, defenses have put extra focus on getting to the quarterback. With the Pittsburgh Steelers having quality defenses year in and year out, it’s no surprise that one of their franchise players has emerged from that role in T.J. Watt.
Watt has long been considered one of the best, if not the best, defenders in the league. He’s formed a rivalry with Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns, and the two have been in a league of their own over the past half-decade. Over the past few years, though, Micah Parsons has emerged as one of the better younger pass rushers across the league.
On Thursday, the Infinity Sports Network’s Zach Gelb asked Parsons for his top-five pass rushers right now. Surprisingly, Watt didn’t find his way into that list.
“You said a pure pass rusher,” Parsons said. “If you look at what I do, what Myles do, we all move around. I play right tackle, I play nose, I play left guard, right guard. If you talk about pure pass rushers, it’s probably a few of us that are in a league of our own, and everyone else is pretty much just high-end rushers. They don’t got versatility. They don’t move around. They don’t create matchups.”
It’s the second-straight season Parsons has offered such commentary on Watt, leaving him out of his top five last year, too.
Part of Parsons’ reasoning is that Watt doesn’t move around as much as he and Garrett do. He’s not wrong about that, as it seems like Watt is ready to move around more as well. Still, Watt is a hard player to leave off this list. Watt had 7.5 fewer sacks in 2024 than in 2023, and yet his 11.5 sacks were just behind Parsons’ 12.
Even when giving Watt credit, Parsons still offered a jab.
“He is gonna be a Hall of Famer one day,” he said of Watt. “But what I say where the league’s at now, pure pass rusher. I mean, come on bro. I don’t even think it’s close.”
So for Parsons, it seems to come down to his definition of a pure pass rusher. While Watt doesn’t stack up to some other defenders in that role, according to Parsons, he does still give Watt his flowers. If Watt does end up moving around more in terms of alignment going forward, his game could evolve even more. It might even change Parsons’ mind.
