NFL Nation
Multiple Authors
Before the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots meet at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for Super Bowl LX (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, NBC), the best of the NFL gathered at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco for Thursday’s NFL Honors.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett kicked off the event by winning Defensive Player of the Year.
Here’s a look at who took home the awards and why:
Defensive Player of the Year
Myles Garrett | DE | Cleveland Browns
The preeminent pass rusher of his generation, Garrett turned in a record-breaking season to win his second DPOY award. Garrett’s 23 sacks broke the single-season record that was previously shared by Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Strahan and Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt. Garrett achieved this feat despite being double-teamed or chipped on 39.5% of his pass rushes this season, per NFL Next Gen Stats, more than any other edge rusher.
While all the focus was on Garrett’s pursuit of the sack record, he took pride in being an all-around player; his 33 tackles for loss were the second most by a player since 2000, only behind J.J. Watt’s 39 in 2012.
“When you got that much attention for you every week and you’re still putting up the numbers that he’s putting up, that’s pretty special,” Browns defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire said.
— Daniel Oyefusi
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