NFL Defensive Player of the Year Odds 2026

That unpredictability made the 2025 DPOY outcome all the more remarkable. Myles Garrett did not just win the award. He rendered it uncontested. The Cleveland Browns defensive end recorded 23 sacks across the regular season, breaking the single-season record that Michael Strahan had set in 2001 and that T.J. Watt had tied in 2021. He led the NFL in both sacks and tackles for loss (33).

Garrett collected all 50 first-place votes from the AP panel, becoming only the second unanimous DPOY winner in history, following J.J. Watt in 2014. In one of the most dominant individual defensive seasons the NFL has ever produced, Garrett made the award easy when the award almost never is.

For 2026-27, the market has been upended by one of the biggest defensive trades in recent NFL history. Just weeks before training camp, the Browns traded Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for edge rusher Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, and additional draft compensation.

The move dramatically improves a Rams defense that already ranked top-five in the league in 2025, and aligns Garrett with a Super Bowl contender for the first time in his career. His DPOY odds improved immediately after the trade, moving from roughly +600 to +440 at most books.

This guide covers the complete picture: Garrett’s historic 2025 season, the full DPOY odds board for 2026-27, the contenders who could challenge him, and the historical and analytical context that makes this market so uniquely difficult and uniquely rewarding to bet.

Best Sportsbooks for NFL Defensive Player of the Year

2026-27 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Odds

The table below reflects current leading candidates in the 2026-27 DPOY betting market. Garrett is the consensus favorite at most major U.S. sportsbooks, though the distance between him and the next tier has compressed since his trade to a Super Bowl contender.

2025 NFL DPOY: Myles Garrett’s Historic Season

When the AP panel convened to vote on the 2025 DPOY, the result was not a debate. It was a formality. Garrett received all 50 first-place votes, earning 500 points and becoming only the second player in the award’s more than 50-year history to win unanimously, joining J.J. Watt’s 2014 performance as the only instances of a clean sweep.

The numbers behind that consensus were staggering. Garrett piled up an NFL single-season record of 23 sacks, breaking the previous shared record of 22.5 set by Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and Pittsburgh Steelers rival T.J. Watt. He also led the league with 33 tackles for loss while tying a career high with 60 tackles. He sacked 11 different quarterbacks during the season. He was double-teamed or chip-blocked on 186 pass rushes, the most by any edge rusher since at least 2018 according to Next Gen Stats, and still finished 6.5 sacks clear of any competitor.

For the fourth consecutive year, Garrett claimed the honor of highest-graded defender in the NFL with a 92.7 PFF overall grade. Each of those four campaigns ranks in the top 12 among all qualifying defensive linemen in the PFF era since 2006.

What made the record particularly extraordinary was the context in which it was set. The chase for the single-season sack record went down to the final week of the season, with Garrett’s final few opponents chipping him repeatedly and throwing quick passes so as not to provide him with any easy opportunities at eclipsing the mark. He set the record in the regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, a Browns team that finished 5-12. Garrett produced a generational defensive performance for a franchise that ranked 31st in scoring offense.

The 2025 DPOY voting results in full were as follows:

The Biggest Storyline: Myles Garrett Is Now a Ram

The 2026 DPOY market is already defined by a single development: the Cleveland Browns traded Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, and additional draft compensation. The trade, completed in early June 2026, was one of the most significant defensive player deals in NFL history and fundamentally changes the DPOY calculus.

Garrett spent the first nine years of his career as the face of a Browns franchise that consistently struggled to build around him. In 2025, he set the all-time sack record on a team that won only five games. For the first time in his career, he will play alongside a genuine Super Bowl-caliber roster.

The Rams are coming off an NFC Championship Game appearance. Matthew Stafford is returning after his MVP season. Sean McVay has designed one of the most efficient offenses in football. The defensive structure around Garrett will feature better coverage, more pass rush partners, and better game scripts to generate sack opportunities than he has ever had.

After being traded from the Browns to the Rams, Myles Garrett’s DPOY odds improved from an average of +500 to +440. He was already the favorite prior to the trade.

The structural argument for a Garrett repeat is strong in a way that defending DPOY titles rarely are. Better team context typically means more sustained pressure situations and less double-team concentration than he faced as the only legitimate pass rush threat on a 5-win team. The Rams’ secondary and linebacker corps will complement his play in ways the Browns could not. And Garrett has now recorded double-digit sacks in each of the last eight seasons. At 30 years old, he is in the prime of his career, not declining from it.

If he wins in 2026, Garrett would become only the third player in history to win three DPOY awards, joining Lawrence Taylor (1981, 1982, 1986), J.J. Watt (2012, 2014, 2015), and Aaron Donald (2017, 2018, 2020).

2026-27 DPOY Contenders

Micah Parsons (+750)

Parsons was traded from the Dallas Cowboys to the Green Bay Packers in the 2025 offseason, one of the most seismic pass rusher moves in the league before Garrett’s trade to the Rams topped it twelve months later. He arrived in Green Bay as one of the most versatile defensive players in football, capable of lining up at edge rusher, linebacker, or defensive tackle depending on the matchup. His 2025 season was disrupted by a torn ACL that ended his year in Week 14, which is why he appears on the DPOY finalist list without any first-place votes.

Parsons returns for 2026 as the most physically gifted defensive player in the league outside of Garrett. His +750 odds reflect genuine uncertainty around his ACL recovery timeline and whether he will be at full explosiveness by September, but also his very real candidacy if he returns healthy.

A fully healthy Parsons on a Packers team with legitimate playoff aspirations is a legitimate DPOY threat. Jordan Love gives Green Bay a real offensive structure, and if the defense ranks in the top ten in the league, Parsons will be in MVP-level DPOY conversations.

Maxx Crosby (+750)

Crosby is a perennial presence in this market who has consistently produced elite pass rush numbers without winning the award. He has finished in the top five in sacks in three of the last four seasons and earned six consecutive Pro Bowl selections.

The Raiders’ offensive situation improved with the arrival of Ashton Jeanty out of the 2025 draft and a new general manager who has addressed the roster more aggressively than his predecessor.

If Las Vegas wins eight or more games in 2026, Crosby will be in serious DPOY contention. His 2025 season produced 15 sacks and a 91.4 PFF pass rush grade, both of which would have won the award in most recent years. The obstacle is always that Garrett exists.

Will Anderson Jr. (+800)

Anderson is the next great pass rusher in the AFC South and showed in 2025 why he was worth his record extension. He finished second in the DPOY voting with 177 points, the closest competitor to Garrett’s unanimous sweep. He led all pass rushers outside of Garrett in pressures and finished with 16.5 sacks, his career high.

The Texans’ defense has built into a genuinely elite unit, and C.J. Stroud’s continued development as a franchise quarterback means Houston should win enough games to keep Anderson in the national spotlight all season.

Aidan Hutchinson (+850)

Hutchinson was a DPOY finalist in 2025 and continues to develop into one of the game’s premiere interior-edge hybrid pass rushers. His connection to a Lions team that is among the most popular franchises in the betting market for 2026-27 gives him built-in media attention.

He recorded 15 sacks in 2025 while operating in a two-gap scheme that limited some of his raw pressure opportunities. If the Lions deploy him in a more traditional one-gap rush role in 2026 under defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, his raw sack numbers could climb further.

T.J. Watt (+1400)

Watt is one of the most successful DPOY bettors’ recurring plays in the history of the award. He has won it once (2021) and finished second or third in voting in five of the last eight seasons. At 32 years old entering 2026, he is theoretically on the back end of his prime but has shown no signs of declining. His 2025 season produced 14.5 sacks and an elite PFF grade in run defense.

If Watt can stay healthy across all 17 games, a recurring caveat with a player who has missed meaningful time in multiple seasons, he will be competitive for the award at odds that represent real value relative to his historical production level.

NFL Defensive Player of the Year: How It Works

The AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award has been presented annually since 1971. A nationwide panel of 50 Associated Press sportswriters who regularly cover the NFL votes on the award at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs begin. Results are announced the night before the Super Bowl at the NFL Honors ceremony.

The voting process mirrors the MVP ballot: voters rank their top five candidates, with first-place votes worth 10 points and subsequent spots worth 5, 3, 2, and 1 point respectively. The player with the most points wins. In 2025, Garrett’s unanimous 500 points represented the maximum possible score.

Several structural features of this award shape how to approach it as a betting market:

Position is not a barrier. Unlike the MVP, which has gone to a quarterback in 13 consecutive seasons, the DPOY award has been distributed across multiple defensive positions. Edge rushers have dominated the last decade, winning 9 of the last 15 awards, but defensive backs, linebackers, and interior linemen have all won recently. Patrick Surtain II won in 2024 as a cornerback, and Aaron Donald won three times as a defensive tackle.

Team success is less determinative than in the MVP race, but it still matters. Garrett in 2025 was the exception, winning on a 5-win team. Most DPOY winners play on defenses that rank in the top 10 in the league, and the majority play for teams with at least 9 wins. Voters tend to give more consideration to players whose dominance is visible in prime-time games rather than late-season meaningless matchups.

Sacks are overweighted by voters relative to their true defensive value. Pass rushers win this award at a disproportionate rate because sacks are the most visible defensive statistic in the game. A cornerback who holds his man to zero completions for 17 games generates fewer highlight reel moments than a pass rusher who records 12 to 15 sacks. That bias is well-documented and explains why edge rushers have dominated the recent award history.

NFL Defensive Player of the Year: Past Winners

The table below covers the last 15 years of DPOY results, providing the historical context essential for any bettor approaching this market.

The table illustrates why this is the most difficult award to bet preseason. Patrick Surtain II won in 2024 as a cornerback from a position that has never been considered a frontrunner. Luke Kuechly won in 2013 as a linebacker during an era when Aaron Donald was already demonstrating his unique dominance.

The two Aaron Donald wins in 2017 and 2018, J.J. Watt’s three wins in 2012, 2014, and 2015, and Garrett’s 2023 and 2025 wins represent the only sustained era of predictability in this market’s recent history. Outside of those stretches, the DPOY award is the NFL’s most genuinely open individual honor.

NFL Defensive Player of the Year: Multiple Winners

Only nine players in the award’s history have won it more than once. Three of those nine managed three wins. The exclusivity of this group speaks to how rare sustained defensive dominance at the level required to win this award truly is.

Three-Time Winners

Taylor, Watt, and Donald represent the three most dominant individual defensive performances in modern NFL history. Each produced seasons that were not merely excellent but historically unique. Watt’s 2014 unanimous win, Donald’s 2018 season producing 20.5 sacks from the interior defensive tackle position, and Taylor’s 1980s linebacker dominance that changed how the position was conceptualized all occupy a different category from standard elite play.

Garrett is positioned to join this club. He has won in 2023 and 2025 already. A 2026 win would make him the fourth three-time winner in history and would solidify his legacy as one of the three or four greatest pass rushers the game has ever produced.

Two-Time Winners

Garrett’s two wins already place him in the company of six Hall of Fame defenders. All five of the other two-time winners are in Canton. The analytical community has widely viewed Garrett as a Hall of Fame certainty for several years, and his 2025 record-breaking campaign moved that conversation into present tense.

How to Bet on NFL Defensive Player of the Year

The DPOY market is one of the most rewarding NFL futures bets precisely because it is the hardest to predict. Here is how to approach it at the major licensed U.S. sportsbooks.

Navigate to the right market. Log in to your preferred sportsbook, go to the NFL section, and look for “Player Futures” or “Season Awards.” The DPOY market is typically listed alongside the MVP, OPOY, and Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Understand the positional bias. Edge rushers win this award at a higher rate than their proportion of elite defensive players would predict. Voters weight sacks heavily. When building a portfolio of DPOY candidates across multiple price points, the majority should be edge players unless you have a specific, well-researched case for a cornerback or linebacker candidate.

Team context matters, but not as much as the MVP. Garrett winning on a 5-win team in 2025 was exceptional. In most years, DPOY voters favor players on winning teams because those players get more national exposure in meaningful games. Look for defensive stars on projected eight-plus win teams.

Shop for the best price before committing. DPOY futures pricing varies across sportsbooks more than most comparable markets. A player listed at +750 at DraftKings may be +900 at FanDuel on the same day. The differences are often largest in the spring before sharp money has tightened lines across platforms.

Look beyond the top five in the odds board. The DPOY market historically produces winners from outside the top five preseason favorites. In the last 15 years, the winner opened outside the top five at preseason odds more than half the time. Bettors who concentrate a small allocation in the +2000 to +5000 range are playing a historically justified strategy rather than merely chasing upside.

Consider the injury risk carefully. Parsons’ torn ACL in 2025 is a reminder that edge rushers absorb enormous punishment on every snap. Health across all 17 games is more important for this market than even the MVP, because defensive impact is harder to demonstrate in a truncated appearance sample than quarterback statistical accumulation. A player who misses four games loses not just four games of sack opportunity but also four games of voter impression formation during a season that rewards consistency.

Always Shop Around for the Best Odds

The DPOY market is one of the widest-priced futures markets across major U.S. sportsbooks, which makes it one of the most rewarding for bettors who take the time to compare prices before placing.

Consider a concrete example. In the early market for 2026-27, Will Anderson Jr. was listed at +800 at FanDuel and +1000 at a secondary operator for the same wager. On a $100 bet, that difference is $200 in additional profit for no analytical work beyond opening a second app. Multiply that across five or six DPOY futures positions across the season, and the consistent line shopper will materially outperform someone betting at a single book.

This matters most during the offseason, when sportsbooks have set initial lines with limited information and the disagreements between books are widest. As the season progresses, sharp action aligns prices across operators, and the gaps narrow. Committing to a brief price comparison across two or three books, DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM cover the full range of major DPOY pricing, before placing any futures bet is the simplest high-return practice available to any bettor in this market.