The Defensive Player of the Year award in the past few years have been dominated by J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald. The Defensive Player of the Year award normally goes to the player that dominates the defensive side the most to hold the most impact for their respective teams.

There’s a decent amount of candidates this year so far, lets get into them…

Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns

After the wild incident that occurred against Mason Rudolph and the Steelers where Garrett was suspended indefinitely in 2019… Garrett is back with a vengeance. Garrett was already having a great year last year before getting suspended, recording 10 sacks in 10 games but he’s back this year with 9 sacks already in 8 games and tied with most sacks with Aaron Donald.

Garrett is the heart and soul of that Cleveland Browns defense and he is arguable the best defensive end in the league right now. His power and speed off the edge gives him the ability to beat o-linemen like they’re not even there. The biggest thing is… he’s only 24 years old. He’s this good this early in his career, just imagine a few more years and he’ll be even more dominant. Garrett carries that defensive line in Cleveland as the 2nd player with most sacks is Sheldon Richardson with 2.5 sacks.

If Garrett keeps going the way he has, I expect him to win his first DPOY award for sure.

Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams

Aaron Donald has been one of the most dominant defensive tackles we’ve ever seen in this l eague. His unbelievable power and strength to push over guys in the middle or even on the outside has created problems for teams since he got drafted. Donald has already won the DPOY award two times and if he does win it one more time, it’ll be his 3rd DPOY award which will tie him with J.J. Watt and Lawrence Taylor for most All-time.

Aaron Donald already has 9 sacks this year as well and tied with Myles Garrett for most sacks. Aaron Donald’s impact shows as the Rams are the #1 defense in yards allowed per game right now. Aaron Donald continuously finds a way to be a disruption for offenses and a nightmare to gameplan against due to his dominance on either the inside or outside of the line.

If Donald can somehow overtake Garrett in sacks after this midseason, he definitely will get his 3rd DPOY award of his career.

T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers

T.J. Watt is one of the more underrated and underappreciated defensive players in the league. He just goes out there and makes plays one way or another. Last season, I thought he really had a good chance to win DPOY with 14.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 8 forced fumbles. Although he did lose to Stephen Gilmore, Watt showed that he’s not behind the shadow of his brother J.J. Watt but his own player.

T.J. Watt has proved that he’s one of the best defensive players in the league by finding ways to contribute to the defense or make an impact somehow or someway. Watt continues to be the star player for the Steelers defense which is Top 5 in yards allowed per game right now. Watt has 6.5 sacks and 1 interception this year so far. Although I think it will take him a lot more sacks to catch up with Aaron Donald or Myles Garrett, I think it’s plenty possible he makes some noise.