After an 8-8, unconventional season that almost resulted in a playoff berth, it’s time to award the best players on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
With their loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17, the Pittsburgh Steelers resigned themselves to watching the playoffs from their couches. While the Steelers could be 9-7 and maybe even playing in a Wild Card game this weekend, considering all of its injuries, the team overachieved in 2019.
With the regular season officially over, it’s time to get into end-of-year content. To kick off the shift in focus, I will discuss my picks for various official and unofficial team awards. This is relatively lighthearted content, but any comments or criticism is always appreciated.
To make things the winners more diverse, players can only take home one award. Even though there are plenty of great players on the team this year, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, there wasn’t much crossover between awards. The winners are fairly cut and dry, especially since players can claim just one award.
Now, let’s jump into the 2019 end-of-season awards for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Team MVP: T.J. Watt, OLB
This was not a contest. Watt easily walks away with the team MVP award. The future All-Pro is the best player on Pittsburgh’s roster, and he consistently made an impact on games. Since Watt joined the Steelers in 2017, the Steelers lead the NFL with 162 sacks. 2019 marks Pittsburgh’s third straight season leading the league in that category.
In 2019, Watt finished tied for fourth in sacks with 14.5 and tied for first in forced fumbles with eight. He also recorded two interceptions, 55 tackles and 36 quarterback hits. Watt joins Shaquil Barrett, Stephon Gilmore and Chandler Jones as the primary frontrunners for the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award.