Cleveland Browns Star Myles Garrett Unanimously Named Defensive Player Of the Year
When the NFL Honors ceremony rolled around on Thursday night, the suspense for the Defensive Player of the Year award was nonexistent. It wasn’t a competition; it was a formality. It was a coronation. Myles Garrett didn’t just win the award; he snatched it off the table and dared anyone to try and take it back.
For the second time in his career, the Cleveland Browns’ terrifying edge rusher has been named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year. But this wasn’t your standard “good season” win. This was historic. Garrett secured every single one of the 50 first-place votes. It was a clean sweep. A unanimous decision.
To put that into perspective, in the entire history of this league, only one other player has ever won this award unanimously. That was J.J. Watt back in 2014. That is the kind of rarefied air Garrett is breathing right now.
A Unanimous Decision For Garrett
The voting numbers are almost comical. Garrett finished with a perfect 500 points. The runner-up, Texans standout Will Anderson Jr., sat way back in the rearview mirror with 177 points. Micah Parsons, Nik Bonitto, and Aidan Hutchinson were essentially just happy to be nominated.
There’s something poetic about the sheer dominance of the voting spread. It reflects exactly what offensive coordinators feel when they look at the game tape: there is Garrett, and then there is everyone else.
This marks his second DPOY trophy, pairing nicely with the hardware he took home in 2023. He is now the ninth player in NFL history to win the award multiple times, and having just turned 30 in December, you get the feeling he isn’t quite done updating his resume.
Chasing History and Catching Burrow
The narrative of the season wasn’t just about whether Garrett was the best defender in the league; it was about whether he could topple a record that has stood for over two decades. Heading into the final stretch of the season, opposing offenses started treating Garrett like he was radioactive.
They were chipping him with tight ends, sliding protections, and throwing the ball in under two seconds just to keep him away from the quarterback. It felt like the entire league was conspiring to keep Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt’s shared record of 22.5 sacks safe.
But you can’t hold back a force of nature forever. In Week 18 against the Cincinnati Bengals, in the fourth quarter of the final game, Garrett finally broke through. He dragged down Joe Burrow for sack number 23, officially claiming the title of “Sack King.” It was a gritty, hard-earned record that required him to fight through double-teams on practically every snap.
Former Head Coach Kevin Stefanski put it best after that game: “That’s history. He’s the sack king. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Shines Despite Cleveland’s Gloom
Here is the irony of this incredible season. Garrett was playing chess while the rest of the Cleveland Browns were playing a game of Connect Four with missing pieces.
The Browns finished with a dismal 5-12 record. Their offense was ranked 31st in scoring, essentially forcing the defense to play with one hand tied behind its back. Watching Garrett record 23 sacks for a five-win team is a bit like watching a virtuoso violinist play a concerto on the deck of the Titanic. It was beautiful, but the ship was definitely sinking.
It makes the award even more impressive. Usually, voters lean toward players on playoff contenders. It’s easy to look good when your team is up by 14 points, and the opponent has to pass. Garrett didn’t have that luxury. He was wrecking games even when the scoreboard was against him.
It was a rollercoaster year off the field, too. Remember last offseason? Garrett requested a trade, sending panic through the “Dawg Pound.” Cooler heads prevailed, the checkbook opened up, and he signed a massive four-year, $160 million contract. It’s safe to say he earned every penny of that paycheck this year.
Cementing a Hall Of Fame Legacy
With the dismissal of Stefanski and the hiring of Todd Monken, the Browns are hitting the reset button yet again. But the one constant, the one pillar holding the roof up in Cleveland, remains Myles Garrett.
Owner Jimmy Haslam, perhaps trying to manifest a better 2026, said he expects Garrett to come back and break the record again. That’s a tall order, but we are talking about a guy who just became the first player in history to log at least 14 sacks in four consecutive seasons.
He’s doing things we haven’t seen since the days of Reggie White. He has the size, the speed, the bend, and now, the accolades to back up the claim that he is one of the greatest to ever line up on the edge.
