2026 NFL Defensive Player of the Year revealed

by: Griffin McVeigh 57 minutes ago griffin_mcveigh

With the NFL Honors ceremony taking place, the most prestigious awards in football were handed out on Thursday night. One of the more popular categories on an annual basis is Defensive Player of the Year. Five players were considered finalists — Will Anderson Jr. , Nik Bonitto , Myles Garrett , Aidan Hutchinson , and Micah Parsons .

And while all of them had great seasons, there was not too much debate about this one. Garrett put together a historic season on the field, capping it off by winning Defensive Player of the Year. It’s the second time the Cleveland Browns star has won the award (2023).

Garrett broke the single-season sack record with 23, standing alone at the top. Quarterbacks feared going up against him, even if the Browns finished with a 3-14 record. Only four games saw Garrett go without recording a sack, two of which were against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But in 13 different games, Garrett got at least one.

“I don’t even think about it as a want — I just think about something that I’m going to knock down,” Garrett said on chasing the record. “It’s already been written in my mind that it’s going just how far I’m going to take it. So, just going to go out there and do what I do, and whatever number I end up at.”

Read More