J.J. Watt Unhappy with DPOY Snub of Steelers OLB T.J. Watt

Following Pittsburgh Steelers star T.J. Watt not winning the Defensive Player of the Year Award, a storm has been brought up on both sides of the coin. But his brother. J.J. spoke out on the entire situation as well. In a new Tweet, J.J. asked what more T.J. could have done to beat out Myles Garrett for the award.

“Everybody is asking for my opinion on DPOY. I get it. The problem is I have no interest in tearing down MG. Myles is a phenomenal player, I’m a big fan and he’s had an incredible career so far,” J.J. said. “I can acknowledge that while also wondering what more T.J. could have possibly done.”

Garrett earned 23 first-place votes, while Watt earned 19 first-place votes, and Garrett beat Watt by just 25 points in the final voting. Following Garrett and Watt was Dallas’ Micah Parsons and Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby.

If you are looking at why Garrett won the award, you will not find it in traditional counting stats. Watt, who won the award in 2021, was the most statistically dominant defensive player in the NFL this season by traditioning counting stats. Watt had 19 sacks this season and set a modern NFL record as the first player to lead the league in sacks for a third time since it became an official statistic back in the early 1980s. Deacon Jones of the Los Angeles Rams unofficially led the league in sacks five times the 1960s. Watt also led the NFL in sacks in 2020 and 2021, when he tied the all-time single-season sack records, drawing even with Michael Strahan’s mark of 22.5.

But Garrett won in metrics like Pass Rush Win Rate and Pressure Rate while being double-teamed at a higher rate. That led to Garrett securing his first Defensive Player of the Year Award over Watt. For those Pro Football Focus metrics, Pass Rush Win Rate is where Garrett soared above the league. Garrett was graded as having a 27.3% win rate, the highest in the league. He was also assigned 60 hurries compared to 47 for Watt.