Forget Defensive Player of the Year … should Myles Garrett or T.J. Watt be the MVP?

PITTSBURGH — Defense wins championships. That’s a universally accepted adage in every level of football.

But defensive players winning the NFL’s coveted Most Valuable Player award? Not so much.

Only two defensive players have won the leaguewide MVP award, an honor decided by a panel of 50 national media members selected by The Associated Press that includes writers, broadcasters, former players and coaches. On Sunday, the rematch between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns will feature two game-changing defensive players in T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett, who’ve been floated in midseason MVP discussions.

Garrett and Watt are first and second in sacks this season, Garrett is tied with Minnesota Vikings linebacker Danielle Hunter atop the list with 11 and Watt is just behind them with 10.5. They are also tied for second with 20 quarterback hits, just behind San Francisco 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa‘s league-leading 21.

“Those guys are game-wreckers,” Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick told ESPN. “They are who they are for a reason, and they definitely affect the outcome of the games that they participate in. So they for sure should be considered, at least.”

Fitzpatrick was born a decade after the last defensive player won the award. And he was a junior at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, New Jersey, the last time a defensive player even got a first-place vote.

One hurdle defensive players face is that their impact isn’t always measured in a stat line the way it might be for a quarterback or an offensive skilled player.

“Defense obviously wins championships,” Fitzpatrick said, “and defense keeps you in games and whatnot, but I think that when you have a quarterback that touches the ball and touches the ball every play and has 40 touchdowns or accounted for, then that’s obviously more appealing for the MVP race than somebody who has 18 sacks or 20 sacks or something like that. Because those 40 touchdowns clearly added to the outcome of every game.

“And I feel like some people say, ‘oh, he had a sack, but this and this happened. Or he had a pick, but this …’ But when you got 40 touchdowns, it’s like, alright, you got 40 touchdowns.”

Minnesota defensive tackle Alan Page won the award in 1971, the same season he also earned Defensive Player of the Year, for racking up 109 tackles, 35 assists, 10 sacks and three safeties.

Fifteen years later, the New York Giants‘ Lawrence Taylor became the second — and most recent — defensive player to get the nod in 1986 with 20.5 sacks, 105 total tackles, five passes defensed and two forced fumbles.

There’s been a drought, too, of defensive players even garnering an MVP vote. Since Taylor won it, defensive players have earned 42 total votes over nearly 40 seasons.

“This is an offense-driven league,” said Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner, who earned one MVP vote after tallying 20.5 sacks and five fumble recoveries during the Seahawks’ Super Bowl season of 2014. “Offense puts people into the seats, and they like to see the offense dance, and if you look at all the rules that have come out over the years, every single year a new rule comes out, and it makes it easier and easier for offenses to be explosive and have points.

“You could have a guy that has 20-something sacks and he won’t even get mentioned. He changes the game, he changes the whole team. He’s the reason why that team is successful. You take him off the team, the whole team changes, but still a quarterback wins.”

J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans earned 13 first-place votes in 2014. But Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, with 38 touchdowns to five interceptions with 4,381 passing yards, won the award with 31 votes.

“Because y’all love touchdowns,” Garrett said, explaining the lack of love for defensive players in the MVP race. “That’s it. People love high scores and big games from offensive guys. It’s not a fun game if a defensive guy goes off for two-three-four sacks and the [final] score is 12-7. It’s not what people want to watch anymore.

“But I think you can have guys who separate themselves and make different kind of plays, including on special teams. I still think J.J. should’ve won it back when he had that tremendous year, doing things in every phase of the game. … I think defensive guys should get just as much consideration.”

For that to happen, though, former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who earned two MVP votes in 2001, said there has to be a perfect storm, including a season with fewer elite quarterback performances.

“It’s a quarterback-driven game, so when they have a good season — and even a down season for a quarterback — it’s going to be better than a great season for a defensive player,” Urlacher said.

So what will it take for a defensive player to win — or at least get a first-place vote?

“It would definitely take like blowing records out of the water,” said Bosa, who finished sixth in the vote in 2022, but didn’t garner a first-place vote. “A lot of caused turnovers, probably have to be the No. 1 defense in the league so everybody else would have to be playing really well around you and then you’d need the top five quarterbacks to not have as great of years as they’ve had.”

Seems impossible, right? Maybe not.

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The case for T.J. Watt

You want touchdowns?

Watt has touchdowns. Or at least a touchdown.

Watt scored the winner against the Browns on “Monday Night Football” in Week 2 — the first touchdown of his career — on a fourth-quarter scoop-and-score.

As his teammates have pointed out, Watt should be an MVP candidate not because of his stat sheet, but because of the immeasurable impact he’s had on the Steelers’ 6-3 season.

“I’ve been in the league eight years and I’ve never played next to a guy like T.J.,” Steelers inside linebacker Elandon Roberts said. “I’ve been in the room with [cornerback and former New England Patriots teammate] Stephon Gilmore, who won [DPOY] and stuff like that, and I’ve seen him do some things. But the type of things that I see T.J. do is on a whole different spectrum. He probably don’t care too much about [the award], but if I get the opportunity to talk about it, I will.”

Through his first three games, Watt had six sacks and the defensive touchdown, becoming the first player with that combination since individual sacks started being tracked in 1982, per ESPN Stats & Information.

Then, he sealed the Steelers’ Week 5 win against Baltimore as he plowed through the left side of the Ravens’ offensive line and sacked Lamar Jackson on the final play of the game to thwart a fourth-down Hail Mary attempt and seal a 17-10 win.

A week later, he intercepted Matthew Stafford on the first play after halftime of the Steelers’ Week 7 win against the Los Angeles Rams. Two plays later, Kenny Pickett found the end zone for the team’s first touchdown of the afternoon.

Against the Tennessee Titans, Watt proved he doesn’t even need a helmet to make a game-changing play. He sacked Will Levis on third down from the Steelers’ 10-yard-line, bringing the quarterback down even after tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere raked his hand up Watt’s face and dislodged his helmet. The sack forced the Titans to settle for a field goal, a difference-maker in the Steelers’ four-point win.

“Luckily I don’t have a vote, because I would’ve voted for him already,” teammate Cameron Heyward said. “I think he’s doing what the team is asking him to do, and when you have a guy like that, you have to plan for him week in and week out, and that’s usually not enough. So that’s the type of guy that’s worthy of an MVP case.”

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The case for Myles Garrett

The Ravens’ Jackson was closing in on a first-down scramble, as Baltimore was trying to close out the Browns in the fourth quarter last Sunday. But Garrett fought his way through a block from the pocket and sprinted toward the sideline. Before Jackson could stumble to a first down, Garrett buried him into the turf. The Ravens had to punt, setting up Cleveland’s drive with a winning field goal as time expired.

“That was a big game, and those great players have a tendency to show up with those big plays,” Cleveland defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “We saw that from Myles.”

The Browns have seen that all year from their perennial All-Pro defensive cornerstone, who is having his best season since being selected No. 1 in the 2017 draft.

Garrett is tied for the NFL sack lead despite being the most double-teamed edge rusher in the league (32.0%). Garrett also has four forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. And on Oct. 22 against the Indianapolis Colts, he became the first player this millennium to finish with two sacks, two forced fumbles and a blocked field goal in a game. Those three plays led to 17 points for the Browns, who needed every one of them in a 39-38 victory.

With Garrett leading the way, the Browns defense leads the NFL in efficiency and EPA (expected points added) per play. And that is the biggest reason why Cleveland is 6-3 and still in the AFC playoff hunt, despite the rash of season-ending injuries to its offense, including most recently quarterback Deshaun Watson.

“Quarterback to me is probably the most important position in sports, not just football,” said Garrett’s All-Pro teammate, left guard Joel Bitonio. “So those guys obviously get a lot of recognition, rightfully so.

“But when you have a great defense — and our defense is great, has a lot of great players — but it goes because Myles is out there creating havoc, getting double-teamed, triple-teamed.”

Thanks to Garrett wreaking havoc, the Browns defense also leads the league in opponents’ three-and-out percentage (35.5%). According to TruMedia, that is the highest opposing three-and-out rate for any defense in a season since at least 2000.

Bitonio says numbers like those are why Garrett shouldn’t just be the NFL Defensive Player of the Year front-runner — but in the MVP conversation as well.

“Myles Garrett is the straw that stirs the drink,” Bitonio said. “If you really look at the deeper stats, he should definitely be in consideration.”

NFL Nation reporters Brady Henderson and Nick Wagoner contributed reporting on this story.