Myles Garrett Wins Second DPOY After Record-Breaking Season

A historic, record-breaking season, Myles Garrett was the clear favorite to walk away with hardware at the NFL Honors Award Ceremony.

His 23 sacks were the most in a single season by any player in NFL history, passing both Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt who each recorded 22.5 in a season.

Garrett’s electric campaign this season has officially concluded with him being named the 2025-26 Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in his career.

Garrett previously won DPOY in 2023, a season where he recorded 14 sacks and 42 total tackles.

How did Garrett win?

This season, Garrett showed he was in for a big year right away, recording two sacks and helping the Browns defense terrorize the Cincinnati Bengals in week one.

Garrett would log two more sacks over the next two weeks, facing the Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers.

He would then enter a slump over the next three games, not recording a sack against the Vikings, Lions or Steelers. In week seven against the Miami Dolphins, he got right back on track with a sack in a blowout win.

Then he started his best stretch of the year. It started against the New England Patriots, where Garrett brought Maye down five times in one of the best pass rushing displays in NFL history, despite the Browns still losing by 19.

Garrett then had one sack on Justin Fields and the New York Jets, before recording four more sacks against Lamar Jackson’s Ravens. He also followed that performance up with three more sacks against Geno Smith and the Raiders.

After sacking Brock Purdy, Caleb Williams, Cam Ward and getting half a sack against Josh Allen, Garrett was ready for the one that would break a record.

Garrett wouldn’t get it in the next game against the Steelers, but his presence was felt all game long. The Steelers team, which was dealing with some injury, played extremely conservative all day long. They refused to take shots downfield, knowing Garrett was coming all day long. It would cost Pittsburgh, as Cleveland was able to win the game 13-6.

Finally, against the team the season started against, Garrett was able to bring down Joe Burrow for his sack number 23, officially putting his name in the record books.

Even when Garrett wasn’t getting to the quarterback, he was still applying pressure, leading the NFL with 53 this year. Teams had to consistently double-team and chip him, allowing his teammates to find plenty of success too.

Alex Wright, Maliek Collins and Mike Hall all put together outstanding campaigns, while Mason Graham and Adin Huntington shined in their rookie seasons in large part due to the schemes put in place to start Garrett.

Garrett also had his best season as a run stopper. He had a career-high 33 tackles for loss, and tied a career-high with 60 total tackles on the season. He was as dynamic as ever, and kept the Browns as a top five defense all season long, even if the record doesn’t reflect it.

It’s a shame Garrett wasn’t given more consideration to be the outright MVP, something no defensive player has done since 1986, but if he’s able to have this kind of production next season, and the Browns win a few more games, anything is possible for the future Hall-of-Fame pass rusher.

Garrett will be looking to have the same level of prodcution next season, and even try to top what he did this year.