‘Snubbed’: Aaron Donald on Pittsburgh Steelers Elite Edge Rusher T.J. Watt’s DPOY Bids

Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt finished in the top three of Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) voting for the fourth time in his career in 2023.

The only time Watt managed to take home the award was in 2021 when he had a league-leading 22.5 sacks and 21 tackles for loss. Watt has been a first-team All-Pro selection four times in his career. He’s been a Pro Bowl selection in every single year of his career outside of his rookie year.

One of the best defensive linemen of all time, Aaron Donald, thinks Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt was snubbed

Former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who is widely considered one of the best defensive linemen of all time, explained that he thought Watt should have a few more DPOY trophies.

Aaron Donald on TJ Watt:

“I felt like he should’ve won a couple more Defensive Player of the Year Awards, he kind of got snubbed a couple times, I ain’t gonna lie.”#steelers

🎥YT/Aaron Donald pic.twitter.com/ONSEqTEGHH

— Matthew Luciow (@matthewluciow92) March 24, 2024

Donald knows what it takes to win DPOY as he won it four times in his 10-year career. There were only two years in Donald’s career in which he finished outside of the top five in DPOY voting.

In one of the years in which Donald took home the award, he finished ahead of Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt in 2020. Donald finished first and Watt finished second, despite Watt leading the league in sacks with 15.

Watt also led the league in tackles for loss in 2020. He had a career-high tackles for loss number with 23. That year, Donald had 13.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss.

While Watt statistically outperformed Donald in 2020, basic defensive stats don’t fully encapsulate the impact a defender has on the field. Donald is a defensive tackle who plays on the interior more often than not, which makes getting sacks much harder.

Donald attracted a lot of attention from opposing offenses, and it is a lot easier to double-team or even triple-team a player on the interior defensive line. One famous picture that encapsulates Donald’s impact on the field is when four Miami Dolphins players directed their attention toward him.

Bah gawd that’s Aaron Donald’s music

RB bounced off of Barmore on the quadruple team attempt too pic.twitter.com/PUrBAMidOM

— Nick (@nickmhc) November 30, 2021

While Donald may not earn any basic defensive stats on a play like that, the impact of occupying four offensive players is unquantifiable. Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Watt’s play in 2020 was DPOY worthy in an article from Sports Illustrated.

“T.J. is visiting from another planet, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “He has freakishly unique talent coupled with freakishly unique work habits and mindset, and it produces what you guys witness every week, which in my opinion, is Defensive Player of the Year quality.”

Many feel Pittsburgh Steelers Edge Rusher T.J. Watt was snubbed in 2023

Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett took home the DPOY award in 2023, but many fans felt the award belonged to T.J. Watt.

Watt led the NFL in sacks for the third time in his career with 19. He also had more tackles for loss and QB hits than Garrett. Watt had 19 tackles for loss while Garrett had 17. Watt had 36 QB hits while Garrett had 30.

Those who argue that Garrett was properly awarded cite the fact that he was double-teamed more often than Watt. Garrett, despite playing on the edge as much as Watt, had a double-team rate of 29%. This was more than double Watt’s double-team rate of 14%.

Despite the higher double-team rate, Garrett’s pass rush win rate was higher. Garrett had a pass-rush win rate of 30% while Watt had a pass-rush win rate of 25%.

It is important to note that Dallas Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons had a higher pass-rush win rate and double-team rate than both Garrett and Watt, yet he finished third in DPOY voting in 2023.

Donald’s argument that Watt should have more DPOYs in his cabinet is solid. He’s a game-wrecker that consistently ranks at the top of the league in basic defensive stats. A deeper look into how the game is affected could support the argument that he has as many as he deserves, but defensive impact remains incredibly difficult to quantify.

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