Steelers 2021 team award projections before the season

Five Steelers selected to the Pro Bowl: T.J. Watt, Joe Haden, Minkah Fitzpatrick, David DeCastro, and Chase Claypool

Pro Bowl selection is more based on national attention but the player needs to perform well on their team to get there. This is one of the reasons why the Pro Bowl projections are included. These nominations are normally based on name recognition since fan voting is the way players are elected into the event. Some of these players deserve to go into the event while others go because of their name and some will miss out because people do not recognize them. The Steelers have had a decent amount of their players participate in this event over the last several years and that won’t change now.

T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick are shoe-ins for this annual event as they have recognizable names and they truly are dominant NFL players. Bigger names like Joe Haden and David DeCastro will likely join the AFC team based on their names and it will be a nice added benefit if both deserve to go. These players have been solid contributors for the Steelers and they will likely go based on their play as well. Chase Claypool could be the one taking his game up a notch but at least one of these wide receivers will be going to the Pro Bowl. More than one could go depending on how the season shakes out.

The Steelers have a lot of work to do between now and when these awards are finalized going forward. It will be interesting to see how close these projections potentially become.