Here’s a fun fact: postseason performance is irrelevant to post-season awards such as the Most Valuable Player, the Offensive Rookie of the Year, and, say, the Defensive Player of the Year. While the NFL does not announce the winners until the day before the Super Bowl at the NFL Honors ceremonies, the voting takes place at the end of the regular season and before the playoffs begin.
It’s a good thing for the “leading candidates” for the Defensive Player of the Year Award, because they did little to nothing in the opening round during their teams’ blowout losses.
The perceived favorite to win, Myles Garrett, finished the Cleveland Browns’ 45-14 loss to the Houston Texans with three tackles, two solo, and no sacks, no pressure, no tackles for loss, no passes defensed, no forced fumbles, no interceptions. His three tackles (one assist) did go for defensive stops, but he was also flagged for being offside. He said it was “the most painful loss I’ve had in my career”.
One of the other leading figures, Micah Parsons, was another virtual no-show as the Dallas Cowboys got blown out by the Green Bay Packers, 48-32. In doing so, they became the first team to ever lose to a seventh seed in NFL history. Parsons finished with two tackles and one quarterback hit, plus a rare holding penalty drawn.
Not exactly the stuff awards are made of. But, again, it makes no difference, because the awards are not only based on the regular season but can only take the regular season into account because the voting is already in the books.
The official Defensive Player of the Year Award that the NFL recognizes for posterity is the one conducted by the Associated Press, as has been the case for many decades. No franchise has earned more such awards than the Pittsburgh Steelers, the latest by T.J. Watt in 2021, who has as strong a case as anybody, statistically, to win it again this year.
The awards are voted on by a panel of 50 journalists made up of all sorts of media—even Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus is among the 50 who have a vote, and you already know that he voted for Garrett and his pass rush win rate. The votes have already taken place. Garrett and Watt were named first-team All-Pros by the same voters—and Garrett received more votes.
Watt finished the 2023 season with superior statistics than both Garrett and Parsons in virtually every single defensive statistic that is actually quantitatively measurable across the board. He had a commanding lead in sacks with 19, Garrett and Parsons each finishing with 14.
It would not be unprecedented for a pass rusher with substantially fewer sacks to win the award, however. In 2011, Terrell Suggs won over Jared Allen despite having seven fewer sacks—21 to 14. But he also had seven forced fumbles to Allen’s four, and two interceptions to his one, though Allen had more fumble recoveries, tackles for loss, hits, and a safety on top of that. Suggs earned 21 votes to Allen’s 14, ironically.
