T.J. Watt has been an utter force against opposing offenses. Here’s why he could become the first player in Steelers history to win the award three times in a row.
Since the Steelers team MVP became an official award back in 1969, Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward, and Le’Veon Bell have been the only players to be labeled as the team MVP 3 times, and Antonio Brown is the lone player to earn this honor a whopping 4 times.
Now T.J. Watt will have a chance to join some pretty elite company. After earning this honor each of the past two seasons, Watt could become the first player in Pittsburgh Steelers history to earn team MVP in three straight seasons. Something tells me that there’s a good chance of that happening in 2021.
Watt flashed as a rookie back in 2017. From the gate, it looked as if the Steelers had a star in the making. They weren’t wrong. Watt earned Pro Bowl honors every year after and has already been honored with two First-team All-Pros. Many fans would argue that the Steelers star defender should even have a Defensive Player of the Year award attached to his resume right now, as Watt was a finalist in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Why Watt should be favorite for Steelers team MVP again in 2021
As Watt only continues to get closer to his athletic prime, his statistical production continues to climb. His sacks, tackles for a loss, and quarterback hit numbers have increased each year since entering the league, and he hasn’t given us any reason to believe that we should expect him to slow down. Last year, despite resting for the final game of the season, Watt still managed to rake in 15.0 sacks, 23 tackles for a loss, and 41 quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Reference – the NFL lead in two of these departments.
Still only 26 years old, there is plenty left in the tank. When compared to past Steelers defensive stars, Watt is drastically ahead of the pace. In fact, I would go as far as to say that he’s on the fast track for the Hall of Fame, barring any major injuries that could derail his perennial All-Pro career.
I think most fans would join in agreeance that T.J. Watt is the single-most value asset to the Steelers franchise at the moment. In other words, there’s no other piece of the organization they would prefer to keep at this point in time.
Realistically, there are probably only a few candidates who are a threat to take this award from Watt in 2021. Ben Roethlisberger may not be one of them, as the 18-year veteran has earned this honor just once in the past 17 seasons. If a budding young star like Chase Claypool, Najee Harris, or Devin Bush have a remarkable season this year, it’s possible their teammates could vote one of them as the winner of this award.
However, Watt’s biggest competition to earn his 3rd straight team MVP is Minkah Fitzpatrick. After being an All-Pro player in his own right each of the past two seasons and leading all defensive backs in takeaways over that time, he could very well snag the award from Watt this upcoming season. This isn’t a bad thing, as you can never have too many great players.
The Steelers should be truly grateful to have a player like T.J. Watt, as there are very few non-quarterbacks who impact the game at a higher level. It will be interesting to see if he becomes the first player in Pittsburgh Steelers history to pull in the team MVP award three times in a row.