Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt and his brother J.J. complained on Twitter about the fact that Browns defensive end Myles Garrett won Defensive Player of the Year over Watt. Watt led the league in sacks but placed second in the voting. Cowboys outside linebacker Micah Parsons, who placed third, said Garrett deserved the win and added that Watt isn’t even one of the top four pass rushers.
Now we’re straying from the topic if we start debating who are the best pass rushers. The NFL Honor awards should be given to the players who have the best seasons. Think about how the MVP award was decided this year.
Lamar Jackson won the MVP award because he was the best quarterback on the best team. No one thinks he’s the best passer in the league, and very few people think he is the best quarterback. Patrick Mahomes doesn’t win MVP every year even though he’s the best quarterback in the league every year.
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Arguably, Jackson didn’t even have the best individual season this year. He had an excellent season, and if you include his rushing production, he arguably had the best season.
Lamar Jackson
Completion Percentage: 66.5% (No. 10 highest)
Passing Yards: 4,102 (No. 12)
Passing TDs: 27 (No. 9)
Interceptions: 8 (No. 3-fewest of season-long starters)
Rushing Yards: 975 (No. 18 / No. 1 among QBs)
Yards per rush: 5.8 (No. 2 / No. 1)
Yards after contact: 3.24 (No. 13 / No. 1)
Fantasy points: 338.2 (No. 4)
His skill set is unique, so it is hard to quantify the total of his rushing and passing performance, but fantasy points attempts to do that, and Jackson ranked fourth in fantasy scoring behind Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, and Dak Prescott.
But Jackson led his team to the most wins of any other team, so the equation was: great season + best team. Josh Allen had a better season for a good—not great—team.
This brings us to T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett. Watt had the better season in terms of box score production. Analytics nerds say Garrett had a better season in terms of just pass rush wins as counted by people who supposedly watch and grade every play.
Watt vs Garrett
Sacks: 19.0 (No. 1) vs 14.0 (No. 7)
QB Hits: 36 vs 30
TFL: 19 (No. 5) vs 17 (No. 7)
INT: 0 vs 1
Forced Fumbles: 4 vs 4
Pressures (PFF): 86 (No. 8) vs 89 (No. 7)
Hurries (PFF): 47 (No. 14) vs 60 (No. 5)
Pass Rush Win Rate (ESPN): 25% (No. 4) vs 30% (No. 2)
Double Team Rate (ESPN): 14% vs 29%
Both Watt and Garrett were some of the top edge rushers. Watt even ranked in the top five in the analytics-based stats. Both would have been deserving of winning DPOY, and Watt did win it in 2021—despite his victim mantra.
But Myles Garrett was by far the best player on one of the best defenses in the league. The Browns started out the season by limiting the Bengals to 3 points and maintained their dominance for most of the season. Despite a little dropoff in the season half, the Browns defense still finished the season ranked No. 1 in lowest scoring rate per drive, fewest first downs allowed, and fewest yards.
If Lamar Jackson was the MVP of the best team, Myles Garrett was the MVP of what is arguably* the best defense. (*The Chiefs, Ravens, and Jets could make a case, too, but the best players on the Ravens and Jets weren’t edge rushers who get to the quarterback and make plays on the screen. Their best players were DBs (the Ravens’ Kyle Hamilton and the Jets’ Sauce Gardner) who stop the opposing wide receivers from getting the ball in the first place. If you want a contrarian take, maybe Hamilton was the one who was robbed.)