Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker TJ Watt misses Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row, falling to Los Angeles Rams defender Aaron Donald.
Watt ended the 2020 season with 53 tackles, 41 quarterback hits, two forced fiddles, one interception, seven pass diversions, and a career high in sacks (15) and tackles against loss (23).
Donald finished the season with 45 tackles, 13.5 sacks, 28 quarterback hits, 14 tackles against loss, and four forced fumbling.
Donald finished the race in first place with 27 votes to Watt’s 20th. Xavien Howard received three votes in first place.
This is Watt’s second season as a finalist. Steeler’s head coach Mike Tomlin believed Watt deserved Defensive Player of the Year towards the end of the regular season.
“TJ is visiting from another planet, to be perfectly honest,” said Tomlin. “He has an incredibly unique talent, coupled with incredibly unique work habits and mindsets, and it brings out what you see every week, which I think is the quality of Defensive Player of the Year.”
Watt was a finalist for the 2019 award, ending up behind Stephon Gilmore, the cornerback of the New England Patriots. Watt was named 101 Awards Defensive Player of the Year last week.
Noah Strackbein is a publisher at AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
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