The 2024 NFL Honors ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada kicked off with numerous entertainment acts as football fans anxiously awaited to hear the league's biggest awards handed out. For Pittsburgh Steelers fans, all eyes were on who would win the Defensive Player of the Year award this season.
T.J. Watt was one of the five finalists, and before odds were removed from betting sites, it looked like there was a very good chance that the DPOY award was going to come down to a battle between Watt and Cleveland Browns edge defender, Myles Garrett.
Just before NFL Honors began, Steelers fans already lost their cool. Watt was nowhere to be found and he posted on X, 'Nothing I'm not used to.'
Nothing I’m not used to.
— TJ Watt (@_TJWatt) February 9, 2024
With Watt ghosting the NFL Honors ceremony, we realized that he wasn't going to win the award. When the time came to announce the Defensive Player of the Year, it was Garrett who took the stage to receive the trophy... and Steelers fans were not having it.
T.J. Watt has led the NFL in sacks in three of the last four years.
— Daniel Valente (@StatsGuyDaniel) February 9, 2024
Yet he has only 1 DPOY award to show for it & he literally had to tie the NFL sack record to get that one.
The NFL robbed T.J. Watt again. #Rigged #Steelers #NFL
— Blitzburgh (@Blitz_Burgh) February 9, 2024
Myles Garrett is AP defensive player of the year. T.J. Watt was robbed, in my opinion.
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) February 9, 2024
Gotta hand one to the guy who can't earn it himself
— PICKETT 2 PICKENS SZN (@Gaige_Rage) February 9, 2024
You are a x3 DPOY minimum in any ball knowers eye
We all know this was a “gotta give it to him because he hasn’t had it”
— Adam Steel (@RenegadeAdam) February 9, 2024
We all know who deserved it 🐐
— Baku 🐧 (@Mazursky8895) February 9, 2024
There's no end to the number of fuming Steelers fans on social media since the award was announced, and many of their Twitter reactions were too vulgar to embed in this article.
It's clear that this would have been yet another milestone in T.J. Watt's career. It's hard enough for a player to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors just once in a career, but there's at least a case to be made that Watt could have this award two or even three times.
Relax, Steelers fans. T.J. Watt is still has a Hall of Fame resume.
The good news is that the lack of a DPOY trophy this year isn't about to derail his Hall of Fame resume. Watt is still on a legendary pace, and these same Associated Press voters realize that this man will have a bust in Canton one day.
The biggest frustration for fans is that it was our rival, Myles Garrett, who won the award this year. On paper, Garrett's raw stats didn't measure up to Watt's -- who just became the first player in NFL history to lead the league in sacks for a third time. However, let's give some credit where credit is due. Garrett was the best player on the team that finished 1st in the NFL in total defense.
We can't be too shocked that it was Garrett who won the Defensive Player of the Year award -- especially if you were following along with the betting odds. In the end, Garrett earned 23 votes to Watt's 19.
The good news is that not earning the DPOY award this year should only add fuel to the fire for a legendary player on a Hall of Fame pace. T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett entered the 2017 draft together, and I guess they are destined to be rivals until the bitter end.