Steelers' T.J. Watt an MVP candidate for 2022 NFL season?

Quarterbacks earn NFL regular-season Most Valuable Player honors. It's simply the nature of the modern league. As noted by Pro Football Reference, running back Adrian Peterson was the last non-quarterback to win the award, and he did so for the 2012 campaign. 

The situation got Kevin Patra of the NFL's website thinking about potential MVP candidates other than signal-callers from each team. Naming such an individual attached to the Pittsburgh Steelers this summer admittedly isn't all that difficult, as it seems rather unlikely that Mitchell Trubisky, rookie Kenny Pickett or career backup Mason Rudolph will take the trophy home this coming winter. 

It was recently pointed out that Steelers All-Pro edge-rusher and reigning Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt could make history by leading the league in sacks for a third straight season and also by reaching a total of at least 23 quarterback takedowns. Thus, it makes sense that Patra named Watt as his MVP candidate among Pittsburgh players. 

"Watt tied the single-season sack record with 22.5 in 15 games in 2021," Patra explained. "What if he blasts past that benchmark to lead the league in sacks for a third straight season? No player has ever paced the NFL in sacks in back-to-back-to-back campaigns. Watt averaged 1.5 sacks per game in 2021, second all-time only to Hall of Famer Reggie White's 1.75 mark set in 1987 (min. five games). If Watt breaks the record while dragging the Steelers to the postseason again, he'd be a shoo-in for back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards. But he'd deserve more, like becoming the first defensive MVP since Lawrence Taylor in 1986."

Of course, the Steelers making the playoffs with Trubisky serving as their QB1 may prove to be too difficult a task, and a defensive player who doesn't participate in the postseason tournament probably won't flirt with winning MVP for that year.