TJ Watt, a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, isn’t taking the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award rejection lightly.
During the yearly NFL Honors show on Thursday, the NFL revealed the winners of a few season-long honors. Although Watt was named one of the finalists for the 2024 NFL DPOY award, he ultimately fell short against Myles Garrett, the defensive end for the Cleveland Browns.
Watt might have learned of the outcome prior to the formal declaration. An entire hour before the NFL Honors ceremony started, the Steelers star shared something on social media.
Writing with his official X account, Watt replied, “Nothing I’m not used to.”
For the fourth time in his seven-year NFL career, Watt was selected to the first team of All-Pros this season. Watt had 19.0 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and 1 interception to lead the league in sacks.
In terms of sack total, Garrett trailed Watt, concluding with 14.0 of his own. However, Garrett was the unifying force behind a Browns defense that this past season had a legitimate claim to be the best in the NFL. Cleveland gave up the most yards per game in the league (272.2).
The Browns defense received 23 first-place votes to Watt’s 19; this gave him an advantage over his Steelers adversary.
Although Watt has good reason to be furious, Garrett was also supported by another candidate.
The star player for the Dallas Cowboys, Micah Parsons, supported Garrett’s candidacy for the honor, saying that he was the “better player” than both Watt and Parsons. Parsons mentioned that Garrett was more frequently the target of double teams and that he had a significant impact on opposing quarterbacks, which is harder to quantify on the stat sheet.
