T.J. Watt put himself right back in the thick of the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year race with one brutal afternoon against Cleveland.
The Steelers’ Week 8 win over the Browns was fueled by the ground game, but the defensive headline belonged to Watt. He finished with 2.0 sacks, and Deshaun Watson spent the day getting swallowed up by Pittsburgh’s pass rush, with the Browns quarterback sacked eight times in all.
That outing pushed Watt to 7.5 sacks on the season, tying him for the league lead as Week 8 wraps up. After a quieter stretch, he has surged back into the center of the DPOY conversation and reestablished himself as one of the NFL’s most dangerous defenders.
Watt now shares the sack lead with Houston Texans EDGE Will Anderson Jr., who has matched him at 7.5. Chase Young of the New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills linebacker Greg Rousseau are among the next names in the chase, but Watt’s case goes beyond the raw sack total.
What separates him is how fast he gets home. SumerSports data shows Watt averaging 2.46 seconds to pressure the quarterback, the same mark as Anderson Jr. and just behind Minnesota Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner at 2.4 seconds.
That matters because the benchmark for pass rushers is 2.5 seconds. Beat that number, and the odds of creating a tackle for loss or something even bigger jump sharply.
The timing lines up with how quarterbacks are operating this season, too. Aaron Rodgers is averaging 2.57 seconds to throw in 2026, while Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is at 2.61 seconds. Against that kind of rhythm, Watt’s pressure speed makes him a constant threat to wreck a play before it develops.
And it’s not just sacks. Watt’s 10 tackles for loss rank third among NFL defenders, another sign of how often he’s blowing up plays behind the line. He’s not only hunting quarterbacks on passing downs; he’s making life miserable for ball carriers, too.
The DPOY race, though, is crowded. Anderson has been a force for an underachieving Texans team and also has 33 total tackles, a pass defended, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Jeffery Simmons, now with the Chicago Bears, has also forced his way into the discussion after a strong debut that carried over what he started with the Tennessee Titans. The 29-year-old has 44 tackles, 5.0 sacks, 32 quarterback pressures, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Rousseau is making noise as well. He has 7.0 sacks, nine tackles for loss, 24 total tackles and three forced fumbles, giving Buffalo a defender who is showing up in every phase.
The conversation isn’t limited to edge rushers, either. Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton and Cleveland Browns cornerback Denzel Ward have both been mentioned as legitimate candidates after dynamic starts of their own.
Los Angeles Rams safety Quentin Lake belongs in that group too, with 56 tackles, three interceptions and 11 passes defended through eight games. Quarterbacks have completed just 67.4% of their throws when targeting him.
Watt’s performance against Cleveland made the point plain: he’s back in the mix, and he looks every bit like a Defensive Player of the Year favorite.
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