One year after losing out on NFL defensive player of the year honors in a close vote, Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt won the award Thursday night at the NFL honors in a landslide.
Watt received 42 first-place votes, beating out Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons (five first-place votes) and Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (three first-place votes). Donald had won the award in three of the previous four years and bested Watt 27-20 in first-place votes last year.
Watt is the seventh Steelers defender to win the award and the first since Troy Polamalu in 2010. Joe Green (twice), Mel Blount, Jack Lambert, Rod Woodson and James Harrison also won for the Steelers.
“It’s huge,” Watt said of joining those all-time Steelers greats. “That’s why I was so honored to be drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Talk about the legacy and the amount of legends that have walked through those walls. If those guys played in that system and were so successful and won awards like this, why can’t we do it too? Why can’t I do it? Seeing those guys play in Pittsburgh let me know it’s possible.”
J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL defensive player of the year, presented T.J. with the award. T.J. was in high school the first time J.J. won the award in 2012 and dreamed of someday winning it.
“To be able to be recognized as the best defensive player of the year is definitely something I strive for,” Watt said. “I’m not huge on individual goals, but it’s tough for me not to want that when I saw my brother at the height of his career win it three times. I always thought to myself why can’t I do that?”
Watt finished the season with 22 1/2 sacks, tying the NFL record that Michael Strahan set in 2001. Watt recorded one sack in the regular-season finale against the Ravens to etch his name alongside Strahan’s in the NFL record book.
Watt had 49 tackles, 21 for loss and registered 39 quarterback hits, all in 15 games as he battled through hip and groin injuries for much of the season.
After he lost last year Watt tweeted the Michael Jordan “And I took that personally” meme. Watt explained Thursday night the tweet was aimed at the Associated Press sports writers who vote on the award.
“It was one of those things where it wasn’t personal between me and Aaron Donald,” Watt said. “I thought he was more than deserving. It was more at the voters asking, ‘what more did I have to do?’ ”
Here are the other award winners from NFL honors:
— NFL comeback player of the year: Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow
— NFL offensive rookie of the year: Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase
— NFL defensive rookie of the year: Cowboys linebacker Michah Parsons
— NFL coach of the year: Mike Vrabel of the Titans
— NFL assistant coach of the year: Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn
