Stephen A. Smith: T.J. Watt is Better than Prime J.J. Watt

If you watched peak J.J. Watt, you knew how much of a force he was on the football field. Yes, the elder Watt brother terrorized quarterbacks at the midpoint of the 2010s with multiple 20-sack seasons. But is his brother, T.J. Watt, potentially better than he was at his peak? If you ask Stephen A. Smith, he would say not only is the younger brother on par with his older brother but he’s exceeded him.

“I got news for y’all,” Smith said. “He’s better than his brother was. And we all loved and revered the great J.J. Watt. He’s better than his brother was. In case we want to sit up here and act like everything is all J.J. Watt, J.J. Watt, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year. I get all of that. But T.J. Watt? He’s better than his brother ever was.”

It’s a bold claim because J.J. was dominant at his peak. There’s no doubt that T.J. is an animal and one of the best defensive players in the NFL. He is on an earth-shattering pace and has even passed his brother on some lists. But the elder J.J. put up an absurd rate on the pace lists. It’s close, but J.J’s peak is one of the most impressive for a defensive player of the past decade. He was up there with Aaron Donald regarding game-changing players at his height. Injuries caught up to him later in his career, but the first few years were stellar.

But T.J. is making himself known with legends such as Lawrence Taylor. Here’s how Watt joined that immortal company. Since 1982, there have been only two players with seven interceptions and over 70 sacks in their first seven NFL seasons. That’s it. The list is Watt and Taylor. If you ever hear stories about the type of player Taylor was to the Giants, you would know how valuable Watt is to the Steelers in the same fabric. He has no tangible explanation for how productive he can be; it’s just part of who Watt is. You have to ask Matthew Stafford, who did expect Watt to be there. The Rams expected one look, got another, and Watt jumped the pass off that.

But the bothers comparison will be made the more stats that T.J. racks up. He continues to play at an elite level and might have a better career. But I would still lean J.J. at his peak, at least for now. For who will have the better career, there’s a good bet that T.J. earns that title.