Steelers T.J. Watt not mentioned in a list of best edge defenders

Steelers defensive star, T.J. Watt, was not included in a list of the top 11 edge defenders in the league. Here’s why he should have been.

If you have been following the Steelers closely over the past two seasons, I’m sure you have noticed the emergence of star edge defender, T.J. Watt. The former 2017 1st round draft choice was turning heads for all the right reasons last season, and finished the year on a strong note.

However, despite his utter dominance rushing the passer down the stretch, Watt’s name wasn’t even mentioned in a recent list of the NFL’s top edge defenders.

According to Doug Farrar of USA Today’s Touchdown Wire, Watt apparently wasn’t good enough to make the cut. His list included players who he believes are the current top 11 edge defenders in the National Football League.

Named on his list were players like Chargers pass rusher, Melvin Ingram and Jacksonville’s Yannick Ngakoue. However, Watt’s name was nowhere to be found.

T.J. Watt was phenomenal down the stretch for the Steelers last season, and was even awarded the honor of one of the most improved players in the league over the final games of the season in 2018.

Watt posted an overall Pro Football Focus grade of just 60.8 from weeks 1-9 last season. However, he quickly sky-rocketed his performance to an 87.7 overall grade from weeks 10-17.

In fact, no edge rusher won at a higher rate than Watt from week 13 on last season. A PFF article from the end of the 2018 season had this to say about Watt:

"No edge defender won at a higher rate as a pass-rusher than Watt in Weeks 13-16, as he led his peers in pass-rush win rate (26.9) after recording just a 12.4 pass-rush win rate in his first 11 games of the year. Even though he’s logged just two sacks in the span, Watt has earned the fifth-highest pass-rush grade (85.8) among the 47 edge defenders with 100-plus pass-rush snaps in the last four weeks."

Despite all of this, T.J. Watt fell by the wayside to players like Ingram and Ngakoue (at least according to Doug Farrar).

Ironically, Watt received higher grades last season than either of the aforementioned players, and his 13.0 sacks in 2018 were significantly more than Ingram’s 7.0 or  Ngakoue’s 9.5.

Admittedly, there are certainly edge defenders that deserve to be higher on this list than T.J. Watt. Players like Khalil Mack, Calais Campbell, and big brother, J.J. Watt, are superior players at this point in time. However, I believe Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt should have heard his name somewhere inside the top 11 edge defenders on this list.