The long-anticipated NFL awards have been announced, and this year, the Pittsburgh Steelers don't have a representative. On February 6, the league held its NFL Honors ceremony for the 2024 season. Josh Allen was the controversial winner of the MVP award while Saquon Barkley—who recorded a 2,000-yard rushing season—won Offensive Player of the Year.
When it came time to announce the Defensive Player of the Year award, Steelers fans didn't have high expectations that T.J. Watt's name would be called. There's a reason for that. Instead, with 26 first-place votes and 330 total vote points, it was Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II who took home the DPOY trophy.
Watt finished in a distant fourth place for the award this year after being the runner-up to Myles Garrett for Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2023.
Defensive Player of the Year voting results:
- Broncos CB Patrick Surtain: 26 first-place votes, 330 total points
- Bengals EDGE Trey Hendrickson: 11 first-place votes, 205 total points
- Browns EDGE Myles Garrett: 5 first-place votes, 162 total points
- Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt: 3 first-place votes, 114 total points
- Eagles LB Zack Baun: 2 first-place votes, 63 total points
Honestly, it's hard to argue with the results. While there was a case to be made for Bengals' pass rusher Trey Hendrickson (who finished second in voting), Myles Garrett was part of a bad defense and a 3-14 football team this year, while Eagles' Zack Baun had an uphill battle to win the award as an off-ball linebacker.
Watt earned just three of 50 first-place votes and 114 total vote points—nearly three times fewer than Surtain. Both Watt and the Pittsburgh Steelers are to blame.
T.J. Watt had a down season, and the Steelers' game plan didn't help
We can point to Pro Football Focus' chip percentage to see that T.J. Watt was a highly accounted-for player by opposing offenses during the 2024 season. But the superstar edge rusher didn't do enough to overcome his situation.
While being chipped at a frequent rate, Watt saw career-low numbers in pass rush win rate and pressure percentage. Simply put, he wasn't getting to the quarterback as frequently or as quickly as he had in years past. This doesn't mean Watt had a bad season (he was still a top-five DPOY candidate) but it didn't help his argument.
The raw numbers were respectable from Watt. The 2021 Defensive Player of the Year finished the season recording 61 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 19 tackles for a loss, 27 quarterback hits, and six forced fumbles in 17 games. However, wait fell six sacks short of Hendrickson's league-leading number and the numbers weren't gaudy enough on paper to stand out from the pack.
But fans shouldn't be pointing the finger only at Watt for falling short of DPOY honors.
Quite frankly, the Steelers' defensive game plan was abysmal. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin refused to blitz, run stunts, move Watt around the formation, or do anything that could help him get to the quarterback at a higher clip.
We realized just how incompetent Austin's in-game coaching was when he left Cory Trice Jr. on an island with triple-crown wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase in Week 18 or when he deployed his nickel defense for half the game against the Ravens in the playoffs while getting run on for 299 yards.
At the end of the day, a team can't lose five straight games to close the season play poorly on defense, and expect their best defensive player is going to win the award. Hats off to Pat Surtain II for winning the DPOY award this season. He deserved it. Better luck next time, T.J. Watt.