It feels like Pittsburgh Steelers fans will be in a forever war with certain media outlets about T.J. Watt. Despite Watt leading the NFL in sacks since 2016 (despite not entering the league until 2017), Watt continues to be slighted when it comes to position rankings and overall top players lists across the league.
The latest list to give some subtle shade to Watt is PFN’s Top 100 players list, where they listed Watt as the third best edge rusher in the NFL behind Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons. PFN also left Watt out of the top five players in the league. Despite the low ranking, PFN’s Dallas Robinson still had kind words for the three-time sack king.
“One of the NFL’s most dependable players, T.J. Watt led the league in sacks in 2020, 2021, and 2023, only failing in 2022 while missing seven games due to an injury,” Robinson wrote. “He took home Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2021 after posting 22.5 sacks to tie Michael Strahan’s single-season record. A constant, unceasing threat from the edge, Watt is the most talented player on a star-studded Pittsburgh Steelers defense.”
It really feels like Watt will have to break the sack record to get the respect he deserves. And even if he does accomplish that feat, there will still be plenty of people who will never give him his much-deserved flowers.
