The Pittsburgh Steelers season is over, and there are a lot of players who still have things to do this offseason. One of those events which is noteworthy is the annual Pro Bowl games. For those teams who are not participating in the Super Bowl, players who are voted on by the fans and peers are selected to represent their team, and conference, at the Pro Bowl Games.

Wednesday it was announced Miles Killebrew will be attending the Pro Bowl as a reserve player, and Thursday it was announced another Steelers player has backed out due to injury. That name is a big name, as T.J. Watt alerted the NFL he won’t be in attendance due to injury.

This per Nick Farabugh of PennLive:

Steelers OLB T.J. Watt has pulled out of the Pro Bowl due to an injury.

— Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) January 23, 2025

It could be assumed the injury keeping Watt out of the Pro Bowl is likely the ankle injury he sustained vs. the Philadelphia Eagles in the waning weeks of the regular season. Watt never missed a game down the stretch, but was clearly not 100% healthy as he failed to register a statistic vs. the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round of the AFC Playoffs.

Outside of Watt missing out on the Pro Bowl, it was also announced Thursday he is a finalist for the 2024 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.

The finalists for AP Defensive Player of the Year presented by @TCL_USA! #NFLHonors pic.twitter.com/LCaNESupFR

— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2025

By most metrics Watt had a down season, but when you look at his complete body of work you see he still had a tremendous season, compared to his peers in the NFL. This per the Steelers official website:

Watt has earned multiple honors already this postseason, including being named second team AP All-Pro and All-NFL by the Pro Football Writers of America, as well as voted as a starter for the Pro Bowl Games, although he won’t take part due to injury.

Watt was also voted the Steelers Most Valuable Player for a record fifth time this year.

Watt started all 17 regular season games, finishing with 61 tackles, 40 of them solo stops. He had 11.5 sacks, 19 tackles for a loss, 27 quarterback hits, six forced fumbles, four passes defensed, three strip sacks, and two fumble recoveries.

He is the only player in the NFL that ranks among the top six in the League in strip sacks (t-1st), forced fumbles (1st), quarterback hits (6th), fumble recoveries (t-7th), sacks (8th) and tackles for loss (2nd) in 2024.

Be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the rest of a lengthy offseason.