The debate will continue to rage on until the NFL Honors event next Thursday when the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award is officially handed out. There are five finalists with Dallas Cowboys CB DaRon Bland, Cowboys LB Micah Parsons, Pittsburgh Steelers OLB T.J. Watt, Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, and Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett all in the running. NFL.com’s The Insiders gave their final picks on who they think will take home the honor and they were split between two main candidates—Watt and Garrett.
“I think you could make an argument for any of these guys. I picked T.J. Watt,” Judy Battista said while listing his rankings in many key statistics. “He is that important to the Steelers, and frankly, when you watch a Steelers game and T.J. Watt is not playing, you can tell the difference.”
That is well-documented at this point. Watt has the edge over Garrett in many statistical categories, including tackles, sacks, tackles for loss, QB hits, takeaways, and passes defensed. So why did Mike Garafolo go the other direction and choose Garrett?
“Statistically it’s not gonna stack up for Myles Garrett,” Garafolo condeded. “But you saw the impact that he had and what he created for everybody else because he just drew so much attention. When you talk to folks at the Browns, they said you see how offenses have to game plan for him…He also had that shoulder injury for a little bit that may have affected his production. I just thought he was incredibly dominant. He would get my pick.”
The amount of attention that Garrett draws is a fair point, but Watt also faces his own share of double teams and plenty of head coaches and defensive coordinators throughout the season detailed how the game plan on offense starts with trying to limit Watt. That trait is not unique to Garrett by any means. The injury aspect of Garafolo’s argument is also puzzling. Watt dealt with his own share of dings throughout the season, but remained productive. When you have to justify Garrett’s lack of production over the final third of the season, that probably tells you all you need to know.
The award is ultimately voted on by a 50-person panel who cast their top three selections in a weighted point system. There are a few voters who have already tipped their hand such as Peter King and PFF’s Sam Monson and both stated their vote for Garrett. The Pro Football Writers of America also named Myles Garrett their DPOY, and eight of the last nine from PFWA have gone on to win the AP Award.
