Steelers TJ Watt Named to The Sporting News NFL All-Pro Team

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt was named to The Sporting News NFL All-Pro team, the team announced on Thursday afternoon.

This is another award that Watt can add to his collection as he was named to the Associated Press All-Pro team and the Pro Football Writers of America All-NFL team earlier this offseason. Watt was named the 101 Awards AFC Defensive Player of the Year, the third time that he won that award.

In addition to all of the awards, Watt was named to the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl Games but he will not participate due to the injury that he suffered in the latter part of the season.

The thing that sets this award apart from the AP and the PFWA awards is that The Sporting News awards are decided by the 32 NFL head coaches.

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. While Deacon Jones of the Los Angeles Rams unofficially led the league in sacks five times in the 1960s, the stat was not being officially tracked yet. Watt also led the NFL in sacks in 2020 with 15 and in 2021, when he tied the all-time single-season sack records, drawing even with Michael Strahan’s mark of 22.5.

This season, Watt’s dominance went beyond just racking in the sacks, as he also recorded 36 quarterback hits, 19 tackles for loss, eight passes defended, four forced fumbles, three fumbles recovered, one interception and one defensive touchdown.

Watt currently holds the Steelers’ all-time sack record with a total of 96.5 sacks, which also sits third-most in NFL history by a player in their first seven NFL seasons.

While the awards keep rolling in for Watt, the one that means the most is the AP Defensive Player of the Year award which the winner will be announced on Feb. 8, 2024, at the NFL Honors ceremony.