T.J. Watt’s place among Pittsburgh Steelers greats was settled long ago, but fans haven’t seen his most dominant version lately. The more pressing question entering 2026 is whether he can still play like one of the NFL’s best defenders.
Watt finished 2025 with seven sacks in 14 games, his lowest full-season total since entering the league. He still contributed 53 tackles, three forced fumbles and two interceptions, but that production fell well short of the standard he established during his prime. After recording fewer than 12.5 sacks in three of the past four seasons, Watt must prove he can return to All-Pro form -- and perhaps even challenge for a second Defensive Player of the Year award.
During his 2021 DPOY season, Watt tied the NFL single-season record with 22.5 sacks despite playing only 15 games. He also led the league with 21 tackles for loss and 39 quarterback hits while forcing five fumbles. His most recent first-team All-Pro selection came in 2023, when he again led the NFL with 19 sacks and added 19 tackles for loss, 36 quarterback hits and four forced fumbles. Those were not simply productive seasons. Watt consistently took over games and created momentum-changing plays.
For Watt to reenter the awards race, his 2026 production will need to look much closer to those seasons than his seven-sack campaign in 2025. Patrick Graham’s new defense could give him his best opportunity to make that jump.
Pittsburgh Steelers DC Patrick Graham can put T.J. Watt back in the awards race
Watt had become one of the NFL’s most predictable elite pass rushers -- not because offenses knew how he would attack, but because they almost always knew where he would be. Of his 879 defensive-line snaps last season, 869 came from the left side, according to PFF data. That allowed opponents to build their protection plans around his location, using tight ends, running backs, and offensive-line slides to limit his path to the quarterback.
Graham intends to make finding Watt more difficult.
Instead of leaving him almost exclusively across from the right tackle, Graham can move Watt between both edges, reduce him inside or create packages featuring Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig together. Herbig said Pittsburgh had only “dabbled in” the three-linebacker package previously. Expanding it could force offenses to choose which pass rusher receives additional protection.
The change also requires Watt to abandon a long-held preference. He once compared rushing from the right side to “writing with my left hand” because years of muscle memory made playing from the left feel more natural. He also said he preferred putting “all my eggs in one basket” rather than sacrificing snaps at his best position.
Watt now acknowledges that his reluctance contributed to Pittsburgh’s lack of movement.
“In the past, it’s a little bit more of me being stubborn,” Watt said. Under Graham, however, he admitted, “I really can’t say no.”
Watt lined up on both sides during practice, providing early evidence that this will be more than another offseason talking point. “I know I say it every year, but I think you’re truly going to see us moving all around this year,” he said.
Movement alone will not turn seven sacks into 20. Watt will be 32 during the season, and he must stay healthy, regain consistency in his one-on-one matchups, and finish pressures when he reaches the quarterback. Graham can make protections less predictable and create opportunities against weaker blockers, but Watt still has to capitalize on them.
An All-Pro return appears more attainable than another DPOY award. If Graham’s scheme helps Watt climb back toward the high teens in sacks while he continues forcing turnovers, he can reestablish himself among the league’s top edge rushers. Reaching the DPOY tier would require something closer to his historic 2021 production: dominant sack numbers, frequent splash plays and a healthy season in which offenses never find a reliable answer for him.
The new defense gives Watt a credible path back into that conversation. Whether he can still follow that path will be one of the defining questions of Pittsburgh’s 2026 season.
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