Though the Steelers' season is officially over, there is still some level of rooting interest for fans of the team. In particular, the NFL awards season is right around the corner, and as has become common, T.J. Watt is heavily rumored to be in the running for defensive MVP. While he is a dynamic player and the best player in Pittsburgh, giving him the Defensive Player of the Year award this year would be a travesty.
Anyone who has spoken to me knows just how upset I was that Myles Garrett won last season. Frankly, it felt undeserved, and it seemed like PFF and their advanced analytics dominated that conversation despite Watt being statistically ahead in the most significant categories. Now, it seems like things have flipped, as Watt is heavily rumored for the award despite having a less-than-stellar season.
T.J. Watt didn’t do enough for the Steelers to warrant DPOY award
My argument last year against Garrett was that he neither led the league in sacks and he disappeared down the stretch for Cleveland. While sacks aren’t everything, they are a notable way to disrupt drives. Watt feels like a similar story this year. He isn’t even in the top five for sacks this year, and he failed to pop over the last few weeks of the season, including the postseason.
Trey Hendrickson led the league in sacks by a good margin, so he should naturally get some serious consideration. You also had Nic Bonitto and Andrew Van Ginkel post good sack numbers along with some defensive touchdowns off interceptions. Both would make more sense than Watt. Even Garrett is more deserving this year, although I don’t think he deserves to win this year either.
Kerby Joseph and Xavier McKinney had some elite interception numbers, while Pat Surtain was a lock-down cornerback all season. You also got the best of everything with Zach Baun. If the award were to go to a non-edge rusher, this would be the year. Any of those names are more deserving than Watt is this year.
That isn’t to say Watt had a bad year, he didn’t, but this award is for the best defensive player in the entire NFL. He wasn’t that, so the voters should look elsewhere. Hopefully, he wins the award again sometime, but the league shouldn’t give it to him this year based on the other more deserving candidates.