The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for the 2024 regular season, but before the real games begin, the team has to head to training camp back at Saint Vincent College in order to fine tune their skills. As we here at SCN prepare you for the start of camp, we give you a series called “30 Scenarios in 30 Days” which gives you a Steelers scenario every day leading up to the start of camp.

It is simple how it works. We provide you the scenario, reasons why it will or won’t happen, and then our prediction for what we think will take place.

Let’s get to the scenario…

Scenario: T.J Watt will win the Defensive Player of the Year award

Why it will happen: When it comes to individual awards, most Steelers wouldn’t pay much attention to those awards. After all, Steelers fans gauge success by Lombardi trophies, and not much else. However, when it comes to T.J. Watt and the Defensive Player of the Year award, fans care. They care a lot!

Outside of fans just caring about the award, is there any doubt Watt won’t make enough plays to be worthy of getting the award?

After winning the award in 2021, most would have admitted Watt should have won the award in 2020 before he tied Michael Strahan’s NFL record for sacks in a single season. Nonetheless, in 2023, after a 19 sack season in just 16 games, Watt had the resume to win the award for a second time. Yet we all know how that played out.

There is no reason to think Watt won’t have a season filled with accolades to make him worthy of the award once again. Outside of injury, which happened in 2022, Watt should have every reason to win his second DPOY award. Throw in the fact the defensive line and inside linebackers have all be improved, and Watt might see his already impressive numbers ramp up in 2024.

Why it won’t happen: Of course, an award like this takes a lot of statistics to back up the selection. However, some of these statistics and metrics have changed dramatically in just the last five seasons. When things like an outside linebacker having more interceptions than most cornerbacks, along with almost 20 sacks, used to be enough to win the award, it seems as if you also have to have other stats leaning your way.

On top of sacks, you’ll need pressures, QB Hits, pressure rate, double team rate…

You get where I’m going with this.

Outside of those factors, Watt will have to stay healthy if he has a prayer of winning the award. Not that he hasn’t stayed healthy before, but you can’t miss significant time and still have the aforementioned analytics to win DPOY.

Prediction: While I stand by my sentiment that Watt will have the statistics to win the award, I feel as if there are players who are often pre-determined to win. Last year it was Myles Garrett, and Nick Bosa the year before gave a very similar vibe. If I had to guess who wins DPOY this year, it would be Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys. Just wait until PFF starts pumping up those fake stats!

Miss a scenario? Check out yesterday’s scenario below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for training camp.

30 Scenarios In 30 Days: The Steelers Will Have An Offensive Player Make The Pro Bowl