T.J.
Watt

A tireless pass-rusher off the edge, T.J. earned NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors after a record-tying 22.5-sack season in 2021, equaling Michael Strahan's mark set 20 years earlier. Watt gets to the quarterback in bunches, having led the league on three occasions. That's the most sack crowns by any player since the stat became official in 1982.

Watt lived in the backfield against Philadelphia, recording two sacks and a forced fumble in a Week 15 clash in 2024. The performance marked the perennial All-Pro's fourth multi-sack effort of the season and pushed him to double digit sacks for the sixth time in a seven-season stretch.

Ahead of training camp in 2020, after he made First Team All-Pro for the first time, Watt promised, "I'm just getting started." Was he ever. Over the next five seasons, the linebacker led the NFL in sacks three times, made First Team All-Pro three more times and won a Defensive Player of the Year award.

The list of players who have led the league in sacks twice had only seven players when Watt entered the league. It didn't take him long to join it — just five years. Then, in another two years, in 2023, he started his own club as the first player with three seasons as the NFL's king of QB takedowns.

T.J. owns the line of scrimmage with tremendous instincts and awe-inspiring physicality. His get-off is elite, his timing uncanny and his motor relentless. Watt smiles out plays before they develop, turning pressures into sacks. He rushes with power, counters with speed and never disengages mentally. Every snap feels like a dumpster fire waiting to happen.

Playmakers cling to the ball with all their might when they see Watt coming their way. Unfortunately for them, the hard-hitting linebacker is simply too strong. An absolute thumper, he zeroes in on the opponent and delivers a picture-perfect tackle that rattles their bones and jars the rock loose.

A seventh straight Pro Bowl for Watt in 2024 added to his luster as a Steeler. The veteran linebacker became the 15th player and fourth linebacker in franchise history with at least that many Pro Bowls. He was already the 11th player and third linebacker for Pittsburgh to be a four-time First Team All-Pro.

Watt added muscle for 2025 but assured fans his speed won't suffer. "I like to think the explosiveness is always going to be there," he said cycling with that work, you throw the fastball."

Among the game's most tenacious defenders, T.J. is a relentless edge rusher known for the explosive burst, power and motor that can determine a while drive's outcome in a single snap.

No need for a PR team when you have a big brother to hype you up on social media. J.J. Watt let the world know what T.J. did at the end of the 2023 season, posting, "DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR. 1st Player in NFL History to lead the league in Sacks 3 times. T.J. Watt. DOMINANT." Yeah, that pretty much covered it.