Coming off an incredibly dominant season that saw him lead the NFL in sacks with 19 on the season and puzzlingly finish second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, T.J. Watt continues to be a bit disrespected by the national media.
Specifically, Pro Football Focus.
Watt, entering his age-30 season, was ranked as the No. 14 player in the NFL entering the 2024 season by PFF’s Sam Monson on Thursday morning. That placed him behind Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen and New York Giants nose tackle Dexter Lawrence outside of the top 10.
Additionally, Watt is behind the likes of Dallas’s Micah Parsons and Cleveland’s Myles Garrett at his own position in the rankings.
“Some players generate more pressure than T.J. Watt or beat their blocker with greater frequency, but nobody has a better knack for making a big play at the right time,” Monson writes regarding Watt in his top-50 player rankings for PFF.com. “Watt led the league in sacks despite ranking 25th in pass-rush win rate, and we have enough evidence by now to see it is a repeatable skill. On top of the sacks, Watt also notched four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, an interception and a defensive touchdown.
“There may not be a better playmaker on the defensive side of the ball.”
Yes, Monson waxes poetic about Watt in his write-up of the Steelers’ star defender, but his comments and overall stance on Watt don’t exactly align with where he ranks him.
Stating that there might not be a better playmaker on the defensive side of the football than Watt and that nobody has a knack for making a big play at the right time more than Watt, and then ranking him 14th — and behind another defensive player outside of the top 10 — simply doesn’t make any sense.
The only real knock (if you can even call it that) on Watt at this point in his career is the pass-rush win rate struggles. As Monson points out, Watt ranked 25th in the NFL last season in PRWR. Yet, he led the NFL in sacks for the third time in his career and was as dominant as he’s ever been at any point in his Hall of Fame career.
Maybe the advanced stat doesn’t mean that much in the grand scheme of things?
In the end, his ranking at No. 14 doesn’t matter. But it’s just another level of disrespect for one of the best players in the NFL, period.
Watt is a superstar and had an incredible 2023 season, putting him closer and closer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was healthy and on the field all regular season and dominated each and every week.
Watt had at least at least one sack in 13 of 17 games on the year. He was a force against the run, too, added an interception and scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble return, helping the Steelers win an early-season game against the Cleveland Browns.
The 2024 season should be another big one for the star pass rusher. Watt will reach the 100-sack mark in his career rather quickly in 2024, which will put him in some elite company coming off a terrific 2023 season.
Maybe then he’ll garner more respect, especially from PFF.
