I know it’s twisting the knife at this point since T.J. Watt’s already lost to Myles Garrett for the official Defensive Player of the Year Award, but Watt lost again in a recent polling of NFL executives. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer asked front offices around the league to vote for each award, MVP to Rookie of the Year. When it came to DPOY, Garrett won easily.
According to the voting, Garrett received 16 of 29 first-place votes. Watt finished in a distant second with eight of them, less than 30 percent. Dallas Cowboys LB Micah Parsons and Baltimore Ravens LB Roquan Smith each received two votes while Kansas City Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed received one.
Comparatively, the only two categories to see a wider gulf between first and second place were MVP and Offensive Rookie of the Year, Lamar Jackson and C.J. Stroud winning their respective categories.
The voting did not count postseason performance but occurred after Monday’s Super Bowl. In Breer’s commentary, he considered Garrett winning the award a “lifetime achievement” one, even if his box score numbers weren’t as strong as Watt’s.
“I don’t think the playoffs affected this one. In fact, as I see it, there’s almost been a waiting room for this award—like T.J. Watt in 2021 or Nick Bosa last year, Garrett had DPOY-worthy years before, and was simply due (which may have separated him in the minds of some voters, subconsciously or otherwise). His eye-popping, 14-sack season complete with the signature game he had (he completely took over against the Indianapolis Colts) made him an easy pick for a lot of voters.”
Garrett seemed destined to win the actual award, seemingly crowned as such midway through the season, which helped shield him from his statistical lack of production down the stretch. Over his final seven games, including the Browns’ playoff loss, he had just one sack, six tackles for a loss, and seven quarterback hits. Watt had far better numbers but the idea of Garrett being “due” for the trophy along with advanced analytics, a high pass-rush win rate, gave him the nod.
In the actual voting, Garrett won a much closer contest over Watt. He received just four more first-place votes, 23 to 19, and won by only 25 overall points. It made for one of the closer DPOY battles in recent memory. But there’s no award for second place. Whether it’s the voters or NFL front offices, they give the edge to Garrett.
