With the regular season coming to a close this week and the NFL playoffs just around the corner, a number of media outlets and outlets are beginning to roll out their All-Pro teams, especially in light of the AFC and NFC Pro Bowl announcements that occurred on Thursday morning.

In case you missed it, four Steelers were named to the Pro Bowl for the AFC.

When it comes to All-Pros this season, the Steelers should have a handful of them, especially on defense and special teams. TJ Watt is having a strong season from a sacks and turnovers perspective, while Cameron Heyward has turned back the clock and Chris Boswell is the best kicker in the game.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell released his first- and second-team All-Pro picks for ESPN.com on Thursday, including some puzzling picks regarding the Steelers.

Heyward, who should find himself in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year discussions, earned first-team All-Pro honors from Barnwell. Amazingly, Watt didn’t even get a second-team nod, which Barnwell tried to explain away by relying heavily on pressure and pressure rate, while largely glossing over Watt’s actual impact plays like sacks, tackles for loss and forced turnovers.

Barnwell selected Cincinnati’s Trey Hendrickson and Cleveland’s Myles Garrett as first-team All-Pros and named Houston’s Danielle Hunter and Minnesota’s Jonathan Greenard as second-team All-Pros.

“And then there’s TJ Watt, who is one of the favorites to win Defensive Player of the Year and isn’t even in my top four. “He’s made a number of great plays at critical times for the Steelers by forcing fumbles, but according to NFL Next Gen Stats, he ranks 65th in pressure rate among players who rush the quarterback at least 20 times per game.” writes Barnwell about the reasons why Watt didn’t earn him an All-Pro nod.

Watt doesn’t have the pressure he did in the past, due in large part to the way offenses are going against him, pushing protections his way, fending him off with a tight end or a running back, and focusing on to achieve the ball out quickly.

Sometimes this negates Watt’s impact. However, he has still found ways to impact games even when he can’t get home as a pass rusher. But Barnwell is preoccupied with the pressure numbers.

“I prefer the rapid quarterback pressure statistic, which measures how often a pass rusher goes after the opposing quarterback within 2.5 seconds of the snap. Watt ranks 47th by this metric, with a rate (3.3%) that is less than half of what his teammates (Nick) Herbig (9.4%) and Alex Highsmith (7%) do future Hall of Famer,” Barnwell writes. “The Steelers actually have a better pressure rate without Watt on the field (31.1%) than with him between the lines (29.9%).

“Watt’s double-team rate (14.5%) is half of what elite edge rushers (Micah) Parsons and Myles Garrett have combined this season. Those big plays late in the game are obviously more important than typical sacks, and Watt is second in the league with 19 tackles for loss, but as a pass rusher he has focused more on splash plays than drive-to-drive this season. Effects concentrated. ”

Again, the double-team rate doesn’t take chips into account, and Watt is the EDGE defender with the most chips and doubles in football, and not even close.

He’s had a quiet year overall by his standards, but he’s still a great player, has been the Steelers team MVP for five years, leads the NFL in forced fumbles and has a knack for consistently showing up in big spots. Just apparently not on Barnwell’s All-Pro team.

However, Heyward is very deserving and is arguably the best defensive lineman in football at 35 years old.

“Will this guy ever age?” Heyward is in the midst of one of the best seasons by a defensive back at age 35 in NFL history. He recorded eight sacks and 20 knockdowns inside. He blocked eight passes, something that shouldn’t be possible for a man near the end of his career,” Barnwell writes. “Jumping to knock down shots is usually a young man’s game. He defended nine passes in 2021, but only five in 28 games over the past two seasons; Eight is more than some cornerbacks will have over an entire season.

“And then Heyward adds even more as a run defender. His 8.2% stop rate leads all defensive linemen.”

There were a lot of questions about Heyward entering the year, given his age and the fact that he was coming off an injury-plagued 2023 season. But he has put all those concerns to rest and is dominating week after week.

He should be a contender for AP first-team All-Pro honors this season.

Things get pretty crazy for Barnwell after that, as the ESPN writer gave Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen and cornerback Joey Porter Jr. a nod to the All-Pro second team.

No, seriously.

Queen is a second-team All-Pro linebacker for Barnwell behind Philadelphia’s Zach Baun and Washington’s Frankie Luvu. Porter is a second-team All-Pro cornerback behind Denver’s Patrick Surtain II, Houston’s Derek Stingley Jr. and New England’s Christian Gonzalez.

Queen was largely a disappointment in his first year with the Steelers after signing a big contract as a free agent. He was a second-team All-Pro in Baltimore last year, but in Pittsburgh he’s missed tackles at a worrying rate, hasn’t made the expected splash plays, been heavily targeted in coverage, and is the communication center of a defense against Having difficulty communicating at the end of the year.

This doesn’t scream All-Pro.

The same goes for Porter, who is one of the most penalized cornerbacks in the NFL and has not had an impressive second season in the NFL. He does have one interception this season, but he has allowed 49 completions for 625 yards.

Porter hasn’t given up a touchdown but has been assessed 15 penalties this season. That’s a huge number.

What brings peace back for Barnwell is the selection of Boswell as a first-team All-Pro kicker. He’s the best in the game, Mr. Automatic, edging out Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey, and rightly so.