We Predict Who Will Be the NFL Defensive Player of the Year

Let's go to Defensive Player of the Year.

There's a lot of options here, but.

And I'll kick it to you by saying this, and I'll let you pick first by saying this.

I still think that the award belongs to pass rushers because we're in a down period for offensive line talent.

That's how the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.

They loaded up on defensive line, OK, and they beat up on and they short circuited a lot of offensive lines.

I still think we're in a down period for the offensive line.

So I think that the award belongs to a pass rusher.

I'm ready to be proven wrong.

Albert, what say you?

So, I really.

I wanna go with Will Anderson here.

That's who I wanna go with, because I just think he is such a freak, and I, I think one thing that insulates him when it comes to just putting up statistics is what's around him, right?

Like, so, it's not as easy for other teams to say like, we're gonna throw the kitchen sink at Will Anderson.

And to hell with everyone else.

That D-line is ridiculous across the board.

They've got another really high-level guy on the other side, Daniel Hunter.

They're deep, um, you know, so, like I wanna say Will Anderson, but I'm gonna go with Miles Garrett.

And This is the easy pick.

I'm trying not to overthink it.

And honestly, dude, like, for me, I, I just went back and I looked at Aaron Donald, um, when McVeigh got his hands on him, and it sounds weird to say because McVeigh is an offensive coach, but you remember, like Sean got in there and hired Wade Phillips, and it was like, what the hell are they gonna do with, you know, like, Stumpy.

Smallish Aaron Donald in a 3.

I thought you were calling Wade Phillips stumpy.

I was like, oh, no, no, no, but you know, like he's got like that, that tree stump build like Aaron Donald.

That's generally not what a 3-4D lineman looks like, right?

Like you're not gonna play Donald on the nose because he's too good in attacking gaps, and then you have him, like, you know, he's not a 5 technique, so what do you do with him.

And at that point, Aaron Donald had been first-team All-Pro in 15 and first-team All-Pro in 16.

And in his 1st 4 years with Sean McVeigh, he won Defensive Player of the Year 3 times, and it was because in part of an emphasis that Sean and Wade had on, we're just gonna highlight what the hell with this scheme, we're gonna just, we're just gonna highlight what this guy does, and we're gonna get the most out of him.

And I think this is a huge part of Sean's program and why they've been, there've been so many great individual performances over the last decade with the Rams.

And they always find a way to get the most out of people.

And it was interesting having this conversation with somebody with the Rams.

And I asked a few of the guys like while the trade was happening , like when you looked at the tape, what really stood out to you, what surprised you.

It's like we knew what a great player he was, but you're not really studying him the way you would a free agent or a draft pick, you know.

So we saw him on cross tape.

We saw him when we were playing against the Browns, but like we, are we really studying him to that degree?

No.

And then you are.

And one person said to me was really interesting because like, I don't know that Miles is really seen as a guy.

He wasn't like really a first guy in, last guy out guy in Cleveland, you know what I mean?

Like, um, he's a different guy.

He's got a lot of interest outside of football, but What really stuck out to them was his football IQ and they could see it in the way that he dealt with everything that, that the other team was throwing at him, you know, whether it's sliding, it's chipping, it's double teams, triple teams in some cases, like you could see his football IQ and how he combated all of that.

And like that was in Cleveland where they were playing from behind a lot, so the pass rush opportunities weren't as bountiful, and he didn't have a ton with him on the defensive line.

Like they were always trying to figure out who was gonna be opposite him on the other edge edge.

I can't remember the last time they had a really great defensive tackle there.

So now he's gonna be on a D-line with Byron Young and Kobe Turner and Braden Fisk and I and maybe Aaron Donald and like, so I.

Just think like.

It's tough to win an award like that two years in a row, but I think he could have 20 sacks again.

I think he could too, but what I think that McVeigh, my prediction, and this is a prediction, obviously, is that Garrett, when I was talking to a few defensive coaches about this, the value in Garrett is putting him somewhere and knowing that people aren't going to go there.

You know, and if you're smart enough as a coach, you can design a defense around that to basically be like, OK, I'm going to put Miles over here.

I'm going to put everybody else, you know, this is too simplistic, but I'm going to put everybody else over there.

And then those guys are going to eat and maybe Garrett has a tough time.

He's soaking up blocks, but he's also going to win a Super Bowl.

And so I don't think he's going to be that upset about it.

I, I, I think that there's a possibility that Garrett is more decoy is the wrong word because obviously he's going to demolish in one on one situations, you know, 3 long, you know, he's going to be able to get to eat, but I think on a lot of downs, I think what Miles will end up being is sort of a, A, a, a, a, a weather vane to, to tell the defense where everybody else, where the offense is going, right, which is not towards him.

Um, but I, I could, I could be wrong, you know, um, but I do think that there's a reason why the Rams wanted him so badly and, uh, and that, uh, and that might be it.

By the way, I'm, I'm just with you.

I, I think it's going to be one of the Texans.

It's either going to be Will Anderson or Daniel Hunter.

One of those guys is going to lead the NFL in sacks.

That defense is vicious.

I've already seen it up close.

Um, you know, all of that.

I, I, I, I think it's, uh, I think it's wild.

And I, I, I don't think there's any doubt in my mind that, uh, Houston , uh, Houston ends up, uh, I mean I, I think like.

I think if CJ Stroud can be one of the 10 best quarterbacks in football this year, like they have a chance to win the whole thing.

Like I, that defense played at a different speed than I think I can remember any defense playing last year.

I remember, I remember saying this to one of their guys when they were up here, and that Steelers playoff game that, um, that they played, you know, there was, um, I felt like when you watch that on TV and that was that Monday night game.

When, like, Aaron Rodgers would check the ball down underneath, and you get like, you know, whoever, Jalen Warren catching the ball underneath, you know, like, and like there'd be nobody on the screen, and then like, a split second later, like 3 guys are there, you know what I mean, like just how fast they close, how, like how, how confident they are in their scheme, like that was why, like I look at it, I'm like, Will Anderson, I think, has a chance to And this is a, this is, this is a high bar to set.

But I think like with his new contract now, has a chance to go into like this JJ Watt phase of his career, where if you remember, JJ was just Insane, um, and I think he won 3 Defensive Player of the Year awards in 4 years also.

I know he won 3.

I'm not sure at the time frame.

I think it was over 4 years.

Um, and I just sort of see, I sort of see the same thing, you know, with, um, I sort of see the same thing coming with, with, with Will Anderson where he's about to go into that sort of period of his career.

He's already unbelievable.

I think that defense too, I mean, it's, it, it, it, it, it's set up a little bit more like the Seahawks where guys are going to play off each other.

Now it's wide nine, which is different, obviously, like, it's structurally, it's way different, but I think, The, the general ethos of it, which is like, I don't care who gets the sack.

It, it's not built around one pass rusher, even though Will is so dominant, right?

And he's so special.

Um, but I, I don't know.

I just, I, I have a hard time believing it's not gonna be him, but Daniel Hunter obviously can also come in there and win that one just by virtue of having like a 16 or 17 sack season, and he's, he's excellent as well.