Pittsburgh Steelers: NFL Top 100 slights, snubs top players
By Samuel Teets
Defensive players
Two Steelers defenders appeared on the countdown. Cameron Heyward was 88th and T.J. Watt was 93rd. While the countdown is crowded with great players, I was surprised by how low both of these guys were. Heyward is a former First-Team All-Pro and Watt is coming off of a breakout season. I didn’t expect both of them to be so low on the countdown.
In last year’s countdown, Heyward was No. 48. He was a First-Team All-Pro in 2017, which might explain why his peers voted him so high. His sack production did dip from 12 that season to eight in 2018, but that can be partially attributed to Heyward taking snaps at defensive tackle.
The move made him more vulnerable to double teams and took him out of his natural position. He did still take snaps at defensive end but Pittsburgh benefited from him playing inside and that affected his numbers.
Statistically, Heyward’s 2018 numbers are very similar to the ones he posted in 2015 when he was also voted as the 88th best player by his peers. However, he’s made a lot of progress in his game since then. It’s fair to say he’s a much better player now and his ability to take snaps at defensive tackle proves it. Heyward did deserve to drop down the countdown but falling 40 spots is a bit harsh.
Watt’s 13 sacks tied him for the seventh-most in the league this past season. Among the 22 players with at least 10 sacks, only two players had more solo tackles than Watt’s 50. Those same two players (Calais Campbell and Danielle Hunter) were the only players with 10 or more sacks who had more combined tackles than Watt’s 68. Watt also forced six fumbles, the same number as Khalil Mack and just one less than his league-leading brother, J.J. Watt.
Considering those numbers, why were Bradley Chubb (82nd), Frank Clark (85th), Gerald McCoy (75th) and Jason Pierre-Paul (65th) ranked so much higher?
They weren’t more productive in 2018. Of course, it could be that some name-brand credit was given to someone like McCoy because he didn’t have a good year at all. It’s also worth noting that when the players vote, they might not focus simply on the past season. They could think more about the entirety of a guy’s career. That kind of mindset might have hurt Watt in the voting since this is only his second season.