If you were to put together a short list of players you thought would lead the league sacks in 2024, no doubt T.J. Watt would have made the cut. The Pittsburgh Steelers star led the NFL in sacks three times since 2020 while earning the Defensive Player of the Year award and three First-team All-Pro honors during that span.
Watt recently became the second-fastest player in NFL history to reach the 100-sack milestone -- trailing only the great Reggie White in this legendary category.
But after the quarter mark of the season, Watt has some catching up to do in the sack department.
With five games under his belt, Watt has 4.5 sacks entering Week 6. This puts him on pace for a respectable 15 sacks by the end of the season, but this is a far cry from the 22.5 sacks and 19.0 sacks he's racked up in his two recent most healthy seasons (Watt missed seven games with a pectoral injury in 2022).
Watt's 4.5 sacks currently ranks him 9th among all NFL players. Leading the list is Aidan Hutchinson with 6.5 sacks. The Lions' rising superstar owns the highest odds to be the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year entering Week 6, courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
This doesn't mean that Watt is out of the running... but he's got some catching up to do.
T.J. Watt's consistency will prevail
Early in the 2024 season, there have been several phenomenal performances around the league in which pass rushers have put up unbelievable numbers. Hutchinson, for instance, racked up an eye-popping 4.5 sacks against Baker Mayfield in Week 4. While this performance was spectacular, it means he only recorded two sacks in every other game he's played so far.
Meanwhile, Jets' Will McDonald earned five total sacks between Week 2 and Week 3 when facing quarterbacks Will Levis and Jacoby Brissett, but has combined for one sack in his other three games this year.
Watt's production doesn't need to come in waves for him to be one of the NFL's sack leaders by the end of the season. The Steelers star recorded at least a half sack in four of five games he played so far this season, and there are a handful of players he came close to stripping the ball away from the QB.
In Week 1, Watt had two strip sacks called back from penalties that didn't have to do with the play. This would have given him 6.5 sacks entering Week 6 and tied him with Hutchinson for the league lead.
Slow and steady wins the race, and we trust Watt's consistency in the sack department more than any player in the league. If he can stay healthy, there's no reason to expect Watt won't jump from 9th on the sack list all the way near the top.