NFL Defensive Player of the Year Odds 2025

When you think of the best pass rushers in the present day NFL, the immediate names you would probably include are any one of Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett, or Aidan Hutchinson.

It should be a surprise to no one that through the first five weeks of the season the top candidates to bring home the 2025 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award feature those three freaks of nature.

Aidan Hutchinson is your current short favorite to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the first time in his early career, and for good reason, Hutch’s return to a Lions’ defense that completely collapsed following his season-ending injury in 2024 has helped propel Dan Campbell’s group to another 4-1 start to a season.

Entering Week 6, Hutchinson has five sacks and three forced fumbles on the season and has been absolutely terrifying for opposing offensive linemen and quarterbacks to deal with.

Hutch is not the only NFC North pass rusher garnering plenty of consideration for the Defensive Player of the Year Award, however, as Packers’ pass rushing demon Micah Parsons comes in at +360 to win his first NFL DPOTY award. Parsons’ odds have slid a bit in recent weeks thanks to the Packers poor performances against the Browns and Cowboys, but it wouldn’t take much for Micah to spring back to the top of this list with some solid performances in the coming weeks.

Another strong contender to win NFL DPOTY is a mainstay on the list of defensive superstars with Browns’ freak of nature Myles Garrett being tabbed at +500 to win this award for the second time in his storied career. Like Parsons, Garrett has seen his odds slide a bit over the last few weeks, in large part because of losses to Detroit and Minnesota, however, he should be in the thick of this race for the majority of the season.

While seeing Hutchinson, Parsons, and Garrett amongst the top four candidates to be named NFL Defensive Player of the Year, the other name strongly in the mix is not a household name anywhere besides the Denver metropolitan area.

That dark horse is none other than Broncos’ pass rushing specialist Nik Bonitto, who began the season as an eye popping 90-1 long shot to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and has suddenly emerged as one of the favorites to win after posting a league leading seven sacks in the Broncos’ first five games this season.

We’ll have more on Bonitto and the rest of the race for NFL DPOTY in just a moment, but first let’s take a glimpse at how the odds to win this award shake out entering Week 6.

Week 6 NFL Defensive POTY Odds Report

Player	Current Odds to Win NFL DPOTY	Odds to Win NFL DPOTY Entering Week 4	Preseason Odds to Win NFL DPOTY
Aidan Hutchinson (Lions)	+320	+600	+850
Micah Parsons (Packers)	+360	+340	+850
Nik Bonitto (Broncos)	+450	+1500	+9000
Myles Garrett (Browns)	+500	+360	+750
Will Anderson Jr. (Texans)	+1800	+1200	+1200
T.J. Watt (Steelers)	+2500	+2500	+750
Fred Warner (49ers)	+2500	+3000	+7500
Devin Lloyd (Jaguars)	+2700	+25000	+40000
Jared Verse (Rams)	+2700	+1900	+2500
Rashan Gary (Packers)	+4000	+5000	+10000

Favorites to Win NFL Defensive Player of the Year

Aidan Hutchinson (+320) – Detroit Lions

The Lions defense was a train wreck a season ago when Aidan Hutchinson went down with a gruesome season-ending injury. It’s not a train wreck now, and the Lions look as dangerous in the NFC as ever.

Hutchinson started the season off a bit slow in the sack department, only registering two sacks in the first three games of 2025. However, Hutch has posted three sacks over his last two games and has also forced a fumble in each of his last three games.

Aidan’s presence on defense has elevated the group as a whole, with Al-Quadin Muhammad among those reaping the benefits with 3.5 sacks on the season.

If the Lions keep winning games and building big leads, Hutchinson’s sack numbers will only continue to climb and he certainly has the chops to ultimately prevail in winning this award

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook (+320)

Micah Parsons (+360) – Green Bay Packers

Despite only having 2.5 sacks on the season, Micah Parsons is the current second shortest favorite to bring home his first career NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, in large part because of the impact he’s had on a Packers defense that enters Week 6 with the 4th ranked defense in football.

Micah Parsons’ sack total would look a lot different if the NFL gave credit for assists on sacks, as he’s opened the door for guys like Rashan Gary to pick up 4.5 sacks while playing opposite of him.

With Parsons now at full speed, it’s hard to find a reason to nitpick him winning this award, but his sack totals will have to climb in the coming weeks if he is to hold onto this ranking. However, given the media narrative that is sure to keep Parsons in the running for the foreseeable future, you have to consider Micah as one of the main favorites to ultimately win this award.

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook (+360)

Contenders to Win NFL Defensive Player of the Year

Nik Bonitto (+450) – Denver Broncos

In what is possibly the craziest story from the NFL Futures market this season, Broncos’ pass rushing specialist Nik Bonitto began the season as a +9000 longshot to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year and is now listed as low as +450 after tallying seven sacks in his first five games this season.

If you have a +9000 ticket in your pocket, you must be feeling some sort of way as we enter Week 6. Bonitto is giving Elvis Dumervil vibes in the Mile High City and appears to be well on his way to putting up a big number in the sack department this season.

If you missed out on +9000 at the start of the year, don’t worry, most bettors did. I’m not sure +450 is the time to jump on Bonitto, but do understand the thought process if you did.

90-1 back in August sure would have been nice though.

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: DraftKings Sportsbook (+550)

Myles Garrett (+500) – Cleveland Browns

My personal favorite for NFL Defensive Player of the Year is still Myles Garrett, who sits at a very nice price of +500 entering Week 6.

Garrett has been the very definition of consistency throughout his NFL career, and he looks just as dominant as ever and has elevated a Cleveland Browns defense to the league’s top ranking after the first five weeks of the season, with dominant performances against the likes of Joe Burrow, Derrick Henry, and Josh Jacobs.

If the Browns defense continues to stymie their opponents each week getting Myles Garrett at +500 is going to feel like a steal.

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook (+500)

Names To Watch

Will Anderson Jr. (+1800) – Houston Texans

After a dreadful start to Houston’s season, in large part because of all their struggles on offense to start the year, the Texans’ chances to make noise in 2025 looked faint at best. However, the Texans have slowly started to turn things around and have rattled off back-to-back blowout wins over the Titans and Ravens. While the offense has woken up of late, the Texans’ defense has played outstanding football since the opening kickoff.

The Texans boast the 3rd overall defense in football, with Will Anderson Jr. being one of the primary reasons they have that impressive ranking.

The former Bama product has registered three sacks in the first five games of the season and appears to be making that leap into the next level of defensive standouts. Can the Texans win enough games to keep him relevant in the minds of voters though?

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: BetMGM Sportsbook (+2000)

Fred Warner (+2500) – San Francisco 49ers

Warner opened the season as a 75-1 longshot to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year, his odds have since moved to 25-1. Like Bonitto, grabbing him at the number he’s at now compared to where he was in August doesn’t feel as great, but even at 25-1 Warner offers tremendous value at this point in the season.

Warner enters Week 6 with the third-most tackles in football (50) and has once again been the heart and soul of a very good Niners defense. This is an award that usually goes to a pass rusher or standout corner, but Warner is the epitome of consistency and if the Niners wind up having one of those seasons where they win 12+ games, Warner could get some serious traction towards being a strong contender for this award.

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook (+2500)

Sleepers Worth A Pizza Bet

Devin Lloyd (+2700) – Jacksonville Jaguars

We’ve already discussed the preseason odds for Nik Bonitto several times in this piece, however, if you had a Devin Lloyd futures ticket before the season began, you are a literal wizard.

Lloyd began the season in ‘Duuuuuval’ as a 400-1 long shot (!) to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Just two weeks ago he was at 250-1.

Thanks to his remarkable performances against the 49ers and Chiefs in recent weeks, Lloyd’s odds to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year have shrunk all the way to 27-1.

He still has a lot of work ahead of him in becoming a serious contender for this award, but there may not be a bigger turnaround from 2024 to today than what the Jaguars ILB has done so far this season. 

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: DraftKings Sportsbook (+3500)

Brian Burns (+4000) – New York Giants

After a dismal start to the 2025 NFL Season, Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo have rejuvenated the Giants with wins in two of their last three games, the most recent victory coming against the hated Eagles in the kickoff of Week 6 this past Thursday night.

The Giants offense coming back to life has also infused the Giants defense with a wave of energy, probably because now they know their efforts won’t be entirely wasted as Russell Wilson chucks passes into the 12th row when they’re down two scores in the fourth quarter. The main contributor on that side of the ball for the G-Men is Brian Burns, who now has a share of the lead in sacks (7) thanks to bringing Jalen Hurts down twice.

I pointed out Burns as a viable pizza bet two weeks ago when he was at 60-1. He’s now at 40-1 and continuing to drop. Should the Giants continue to actually win some games, Burns could conceivably pull a Nik Bonitto and really make this thing interesting.

Best NFL DPOTY Betting Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook (+4000)

How is the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award Decided?

Each season, the Associated Press, known by many as the AP, gives out the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award to the defensive player they believe has performed the best throughout the course of the regular season.

A panel of 50 sportswriters and media members rank their top five choices for the award at the end of each NFL season, with the winner being the player who receives the most votes as determined by where they are slotted in each respective writer or media member’s top five.

In other words, the more first place votes a player receives, the higher the likelihood they will be named NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award is a special recognition for all those hard-working athletes on the side of the football that don’t get quite as much love as those guys who play offense. It would take a monumental season for a defensive player to win the NFL MVP award, so this is the closest thing to that honor on the defensive side of the football.

As we mentioned above, unlike the MVP and OPOY awards which basically go to any three positions (QB, RB, WR) on offense each season, the DPOY award is much more wide open.

Dating back to the 2000 season, here’s a position by position breakdown showing who has brought home this award over the last 25 seasons of NFL action.

Position	DPOY Awards Won Since 2000
Defensive End / EDGE	9
Defensive Tackle	6
Linebacker	5
Defensive Back	5

As you can see, relentless pass rushers, tackle machines at linebacker, and lockdown corners are all in the mix to win the NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Recent NFL Defensive Player of the Year Winners

Season	Player	Position	Team
2024	Patrick Surtain II	CB	Denver Broncos
2023	Myles Garrett	DE	Cleveland Browns
2022	Nick Bosa	DE	San Francisco 49ers
2021	T.J. Watt	LB	Pittsburgh Steelers
2020	Aaron Donald	DT	Los Angeles Rams
2019	Stephon Gilmore	CB	New England Patriots
2018	Aaron Donald	DT	Los Angeles Rams
2017	Aaron Donald	DT	Los Angeles Rams
2016	Khalil Mack	DE	Oakland Raiders
2015	J.J. Watt	DE	Houston Texans

How To Bet On The NFL Defensive Player Of The Year

To bet on the DPOY award, you must:

1. Log into your sportsbook.
2. Look for the NFL betting odds tab.
3. Click on the ‘Players Futures’ category.
4. Select the DPOY award to display the odds.
5. Choose the player you want to wager on.
6. Submit it from the bet slip window on the right-hand side of the screen.

Editor’s Note: All odds were correct at the time of writing. All odds, unless otherwise stated, are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.