The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted TJ Watt with the 30th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Watt was selected 29 picks after the Cleveland Browns used the number one overall pick on Myles Garrett. The Dallas Cowboys took Taco Charlton just two picks before him. They were not the only team. Six other edge rushers were selected after Garrett and before Watt. The former Wisconsin Badgers star was tabbed as a pale imitation of his brother, JJ Watt, in one of the all-time examples of how badly scouts can miss on a player.
Seven years later, the debate over who is better, Watt or Garrett, rages on. Very few days pass on Twitter/X without one side or the other posting data to support their side of the argument. They are both great players, but the traditional measures of production favor Watt.
The Steelers outside linebacker has reached several impressive milestones. He has the second most sacks in 100 games in NFL history, trailing only Reggie White. Watt is also the co-holder of the NFL single-season sack record with Michael Strahan. Currently, he is leading the NFL in sacks (17) and has a chance to become the first player ever to lead the league in that category in three different seasons. The sack became an official statistic in 1982 in the NFL.
Watt's resume is impressive. He won the 2021 Defensive Player of The Year. Watt was a First Team All-Pro in his third, fourth, and fifth seasons. A pectoral injury cost him half of the 2022 season, and the Steelers went 1-6 without him in the lineup. Watt was selected to his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl after the season, but his All-Pro streak ended.
Garrett has two First Team All-Pro selections and two Second Team All-Pro nods. He was elected to four Pro Bowls, including the last three consecutively. Garrett's streak of All-Pro selections and Pro Bowls was interrupted in 2019 after he was suspended for the final six games of the season for using a helmet as a weapon against Mason Rudolph. Garrett compounded the incident by leveling a baseless accusation against Rudolph that has damaged his career.
Steelers' TJ Watt's Production Ignored By Pro Football Focus
Pro Football Focus (PFF) has inserted itself into the middle of this debate. PFF refuses to acknowledge traditional production metrics as the measure of who is the better player. Steve Palazzolo told Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller on The PM Team w/Poni & Mueller earlier this season that fans should stop counting sacks as the measure of an edge rusher. Palazzolo's explanation enraged Steeler Nation and damaged the credibility of an organization rumored to give the highest bidder better grades.
Steelers fans are among the most knowledgeable in the NFL. The advent of the analytics crowd that has given rise to organizations like PFF is trying to find the level of respect that Bill James found in Major League Baseball. James has rendered some stats as obsolete metrics, but baseball is still counting them and rewarding players who post them. Baseball metrics like WAR and WHIP augmented the sport. PFF's analytics are laughable because they fly in the face of visual evidence.
If Watt accomplishes leading the league in sacks and becomes the only one in the history of the NFL to do it, how can anyone honestly argue that he is not the best edge rusher in the NFL in 2023? Garrett has not recorded a sack in five games. Despite the Pass Rush Win Rate statistic's best efforts, the NFL has not turned into horseshoes and hand grenades. At least not yet.
Professional football is not handing out participation trophies to players who tried hard. They are still counting who leads the league in sacks, at least until they outlaw any defensive player touching a quarterback. There is no word on whether Roger Goodell or Troy Vincent will be responsible for bringing the orange wedges on Sunday in Seattle.
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