Regarded as the most dominant defensive force in football, Myles Garrett left little doubt about his place atop the NFL hierarchy in 2025.
The Cleveland Browns star defensive end was named the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday night at NFL Honors in San Francisco, earning the award for the second time in his career. Garrett was a unanimous selection, collecting all 50 first-place votes for a perfect 500 points. Texans pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. finished second with 177 points.
Garrett’s win was part of a memorable night for Cleveland’s defense. Rookie linebacker Carson Schwesinger later captured Defensive Rookie of the Year, marking the first time since 2003 that teammates claimed both honors in the same season, when the Ravens’ Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs accomplished the feat.
The award capped a historic campaign for Garrett, who authored one of the most productive pass-rushing seasons the league has ever seen. He set a new NFL single-season record with 23 sacks, surpassing the long-standing mark of 22.5 previously shared by Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and Steelers rival T.J. Watt. Garrett also led the league with 33 tackles for loss, tied a career high with 60 total tackles and posted a personal best with 39 quarterback hits.
Beyond the raw numbers, Garrett’s impact was constant and unavoidable. He recorded at least a half-sack in nine straight games and brought down 11 different quarterbacks over the course of the season, including a decisive fourth-quarter sack of Joe Burrow in Cleveland’s season-ending win over Cincinnati on Jan. 4. Among his victims were some of the league’s biggest names, including Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy and Super Bowl quarterback Drake Maye, whom Garrett sacked five times in a dominant Week 8 performance.
Opponents devoted extraordinary resources to slowing him down, often to no avail. Garrett was double-teamed or chip-blocked on 186 pass rushes, the most by any edge rusher since tracking began in 2018, according to Next Gen Stats. Even with extra attention, he still produced a league-best 32 quarterback pressures and eight sacks when facing help.
Individually, Garrett’s season earned widespread recognition beyond the DPOY trophy. He was voted to his seventh Pro Bowl, named a first-team All-Pro for the fifth time and joined fellow NFL Honors nominees Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba as a unanimous All-Pro selection. At age 30, he is now the ninth player in league history to win multiple AP Defensive Player of the Year awards, joining an exclusive group that includes Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White, Bruce Smith, Ray Lewis, Mike Singletary, Joe Greene, J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald.
Even amid a challenging 5-12 season for Cleveland, Garrett’s dominance stood out as one of the defining stories of the year. In a season where many of the league’s major awards sparked spirited debate, Defensive Player of the Year felt inevitable. Garrett didn’t just win it — he owned it.
