Every year, the NFL Network puts out its ranking of the Top 100 players in the league as voted on by the players in the league. This is a high honor for players as it is a ranking done by their peers, not by writers and pundits.
So it comes as a pretty huge surprise that NFL players gave Pittsburgh Steelers EDGE T.J. Watt so little respect on the list. Watt saw his ranking fall from No. 6 in 2022 all the way down to No. 27 in 2023.
Watt missed seven games in 2022 with a partially torn pectoral. In the 10 games he did play, Watt had 5.5 sacks and 39 total tackles. This is coming off a season where Watt tied the single-season record for sacks with 22.5.
One might make the case that Watt fell so far because he missed seven games. But if this were the case, we would surely see Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald much lower than his No. 2 ranking from last season, correct? After all, Donald missed six games last season and only had 5.0 sacks. This is a huge dip from what Donald did in 2021 when he had 12.5 sacks.
However, Steelers fans understand this isn’t how it works. Donald will still be in the top five despite a completely average season but Watt’s reputation takes a hit.
