T.J. Watt selected Steelers team MVP for the 2021 season

The Pittsburgh Steelers have announced that outside linebacker T.J. Watt has been named the team MVP for third consecutive season.

The Most Valuable Player award is voted on by the Steelers players each season. Watt is only the third player still currently with the Pittsburgh Steelers who has won the award along with JuJu Smith-Schuster who was selected in 2018 and Ben Roethlisberger in 2009.

T.J. Watt also becomes the fifth member of the Steelers to win three MVP awards. The previous two players were Rod Woodson in 1988, 1990, in 1993; Jerome Bettis in 1996, 1997, and 200; Hines Ward in 2002, 2003, and 2005; along with Antonio Brown, who won the team MVP four times, in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Watt becomes the first member of the Steelers to win the award in three consecutive seasons since it began in 1969.

A finalist for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year the last two seasons, Watt has once again cemented himself as a finalist in 2021 and is the odds-on favorite to win the award this season. On the year, Watt leads the NFL going into the final game of the season in several statistical categories including sacks (21.5), tackles for loss (20), quarterback hits (36), and fumble recoveries (3).

On Sunday, Watt will be looking for the opportunity to both tie and break the NFL single-season sack record of 22.5 set in 2001 by Michael Strahan.

Stay tuned to Behind The Steel Curtain as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to face the Ravens this Sunday in Baltimore to close out the regular season.