Aaron Donald believes TJ Watt was 'snubbed a couple times' for Defensive Player of the Year
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker TJ Watt is universally recognized as one of the best defensive players in the NFL, but Aaron Donald believes he hasn’t always gotten enough praise.
Donald, fresh off announcing his retirement from the NFL after 10 seasons, recently told his wife, Erica, in a sit-down interview that Watt has been “snubbed a couple times” for the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award.
“Maybe not the next Aaron Donald, but I would say TJ Watt,” Donald said. “He’s a guy that’s consistently been doing it every single year…. Going to consistently get 15 sacks for you, 20 TFLs, probably two interceptions, maybe a touchdown for sure. He’s a guy that’s been doing it consistently, like he should have won a couple defensive players of the year. He got snubbed a couple times, I ain’t gonna lie.”
TJ Watt has fallen short multiple times in DPOY voting
Watt, 29, led the NFL with 19.0 sacks this past season, his third campaign sitting atop the sacks leaderboard. His 96.5-career sacks are eighth among active players. Watt finished second in Defensive Player of the Year Award voting, just behind Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, and one spot ahead of Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons.
Watt won his first and only Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2021 after tying Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan for the single-season sacks record with 22.5. He has finished in the top-three in voting in three other seasons. Watt placed second in voting in 2020, falling short of Donald.
Donald said that if any players are looking to better themselves, they should take note of what Watt is doing and try to outduel him.
“He consistently dominates year in and year out. So, that’s a guy I feel like if anybody, they need to be chasing him,” Watt said. “If they want to look at stats trying to accomplish something I would look at what did TJ do today. He had three sacks, damn, I’m gonna try to get 3.5 sacks, 4.0 sacks. He’s that guy right now.”