Steelers’ T.J. Watt closing in on NFL history as first player to lead league in sacks three different times

While he’s already made his share of NFL history, T.J. Watt is on the precipice of setting a record that would truly distinguish himself among the fraternity of legendary pass rushers. The Steelers‘ perennial Pro Bowl linebacker is two games away from becoming the first player since the league started keeping track of individual sacks in 1982 to lead the NFL in sacks on three separate occasions. 

Watt currently has 17 sacks, one more than Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson and 1.5 more than Vikings linebacker Danielle Hunter. 

The 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Watt is already only the eighth player since 1982 to lead the league in sacks multiple times. His older brother, JJ Watt, was the most recent player to accomplish that feat during his stellar run with the Texans in the 2010s. 

While the NFL doesn’t recognize them, Pro Football Reference has unofficial sack tallies of players dating to 1960. When you include those numbers, a dozen players have led the NFL in sacks multiple times over the past 63 years. Deacon Jones, a legendary pass rusher who actually coined the term “sack” during his Hall of Fame career with the Rams, led the NFL in sacks five times, according to PFR. 

Players to lead NFL in sacks multiple times 

Watt becoming the first player in the post merger era to lead the NFL in sacks would surely add to his future Hall of Fame resume. Earlier this season, Watt became the second-fastest player to record his 90th career sack, which occurred in his 98th game. 

Watt also make history this season when he broke former teammate James Harrison’s franchise career sack record. He do so after recording a sack during Pittsburgh’s Week 2 win over the Browns. 

While he continues to make history, Watt is more focused on helping the Steelers snap their seven-year drought without a playoff win. Achieving that, Watt said, was his primary goal prior to the start of the 2023 season. 

“Getting into Year 7, you’re just trying to get to the Super Bowl,” Watt told CBS Sports just before the start of training camp. “I’ve played in three playoff games and haven’t won a single one, so that’s a big issue. That’s probably goal No. 1 is just to get into the playoffs and win a playoff game and just go from there.

“I’m not about the individual goals anymore. I’ve set myself up nice where I’ve been having a good career but it doesn’t matter if you’re not winning games when they matter most. I think that’s objective No. 1, for sure.”

Watt can help the Steelers get into position to possible obtain that goal during the final two weeks of the regular season. Pittsburgh likely needs to win its final two games against Seattle and Baltimore in order to have a chance at making the playoffs. 

The Steelers also need help as both Indianapolis and Houston are currently ahead of them in the AFC standings. Fortunately, the Colts and Texans will play each other in Week 18, so one of those teams will drop behind Pittsburgh as long as the Steelers win their remaining two games.