3 things Steelers T.J. Watt still needs to add to his Hall of Fame resume
By Tommy Jaggi
T.J. Watt was recently awarded Defensive Player of the Year, but here are three things the Pittsburgh Steelers star needs to add to his resume for Canton one day.
After a remarkable year in which he tied Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record in just fifteen games, nobody was surprised to see T.J. Watt win the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year award by a landslide. For three straight years, Watt has finished top-three in DPOY voting by the Associated Press, and he has established himself as one of the NFL’s most dominant defenders.
Sadly, the Hall of Fame voters don’t always get things right. Cowboys legendary edge defender, DeMarcus Ware, was snubbed from getting in on his first attempt. Here are three things T.J. Watt can add to his resume to ensure this doesn’t happen to him when he becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame:
Watt needs at least one more First-Team All-Pro
First-Team All-Pro honors are a factor that can help elite NFL players inch their way towards the Hall of Fame. From my research, four seems to be the magic number and the threshold to get into Canton, though there are expectations to this and it’s not foolproof.
Currently, Watt has earned 3 First-Team All-Pro honors in his first 5 seasons in the NFL. He certainly appears to be on track to break this one with ease. However, if he were to suffer a few bigger injuries over the next couple of seasons, this could throw things off.
Still, Watt should have at least eight more years left in the tank, and I would be floored if he didn’t earn First-Team All-Pro at least one more time. When it’s all said and done, I would expect the Steelers star to be well above the four-All-Pro threshold for first-ballot consideration in the Hall of Fame.