The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns matchup on Sunday sets the stage for the first matchup between two of the best defensive players in football in Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt. Juan Thornhill has played for both the Browns and the Steelers and played on the same defense as both of them, and appearing on Cam Heyward’s Not Just Football podcast, Thornhill was asked who was better.
Thornhill was effusive in his praise for both of them, but ultimately said he’s going with Watt.
“I know this game is going to mean a lot to both of those guys. Cleveland, they’re going to say Myles Garrett is the best player in the NFL, Pittsburgh they gotta say T.J. Watt is the best guy in the NFL. For those guys, I think there’s a little bit of a rivalry going on within just them two,” Thornhill said. “Myles is a hell of a player, he’s a guy that’s going to be tough to stop. Hopefully our offense got the tools there, ready for that, and then same on the other side, T.J. is just a guy you gotta stay away from.”
“I’ve never seen a guy like him, he can be doing absolutely nothing and then somehow the ball finds a way to find him…he’s always in the right spot in the right time. I’m going with T.J.”
Thornhill said it would be “wrong” if he didn’t go with his teammate in Watt, and said that Watt and Garrett are both very similar when it comes to their off-the-field training habits.
It’s a debate that’s swung and back and forth over the last few years, although the national media pendulum has always seemed to favor Garrett. Despite having better numbers than Garrett in 2023, Watt was snubbed for Defensive Player of the Year, but Garrett outperformed Watt last season, largely due to Watt and the Steelers struggling late in the season.
But no one has more sacks than Watt since entering the league in 2017, the year he and Garrett were both drafted, and it’s more of a rivalry as Thornhill said not only because it’s the Steelers and the Browns, but also because of Garrett’s incident where he swung a helmet at Mason Rudolph. That soured him to many in the Steelers’ fan base, and it’s an incident that heats up the rivalry and the discourse when discussing Garrett.
Garrett is an immensely talented player, but even so, he just hasn’t had the same level of individual success as Watt throughout his career. But he’s well on his way to another strong campaign, with four sacks through five games, and the Watt vs. Garrett article could truly go either way. But Thornhill, who’s seen both sides, is riding with his teammate in Watt.
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