The NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award winners

As noted, Page is one of two defensive players to win MVP. He’s also the inaugural Defensive Player of the Year winner. A defensive tackle, Page was the hub of the Minnesota Vikings “Purple People Eaters” defensive line. Page was a five-time All-Pro, a Hall of Famer, and also a judge in the Minnesota Supreme Court for over 20 years.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have had many famed defensive players. During the “Steel Curtain” era, Pittsburgh was littered with stars on that side of the ball. And yet, “Mean” Joe Greene was at the forefront. He was the best player on an all-time stout defense. Now, this was prior to sacks being an official stat, but the defensive tackle has been, after the fact, credited with 11 sacks for 1972.

In 1972, the Miami Dolphins had a perfect record, and Anderson was an all-pro safety. The next year, the Dolphins won another Super Bowl, though with an imperfect record, and Anderson won DPOY. Why is fairly easy to understand, as he led the NFL with eight interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns.

Yes, Greene again. Hey, he was named to the NFL’s all-decade team of the 1970s and also the league’s 100th-anniversary team as well. Given that, it makes sense that “Mean Joe” is one of the multiple winners of the Defensive Player of the Year award, doing so twice in the first four seasons of the award. Then, a couple of years later, he’d do that Coca-Cola ad.

Greene may have been the best player on the “Steel Curtain” defense, but as we said, he isn’t the only star. Blount, a cornerback for the Steelers, is another Hall of Famer, and another four-time Super Bowl winner with Pittsburgh. In 1975, Blount led the league with 11 interceptions, an impressive number now, but even more impressive in the 14-game seasons of the era.

That’s right, another Steeler. The NFL voters may have been divvying the award out to different players, but the same team took it three years in a row, There is a reason the Steelers of the 1970s are considered by many the most-formidable defense ever. Lambert is the first linebacker to win this award. In fact, when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he was called the greatest linebacker of his generation, and he did make the All-1970s and All-1980s teams. Lambert won this award in 1976, when he was also the runner-up for MVP.

So far, this list has been littered with Hall of Famers, and also Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, Martin was a career-long Cowboy, and he’s also the first non-Hall of Famer to win DPOY. Martin has been credited, after the fact, with 23 sacks for 1977. It was his only first-team All-Pro appearance as well. After he retired from the NFL, Martin was briefly a pro wrestler, appearing in a battle royal at WrestleMania 2.

Gradishar finished sixth in the Heisman voting in 1972, as a middle linebacker, which is saying something. In the pros, he was quite good, even if he didn’t end up in the Hall. Playing his entire career with the Denver Broncos, the middle linebacker was first-team All-Pro in 1977 and 1978, the latter of which saw him lead the NFL’s best non-“Steel Curtain” defense, earning him this award.

A college star, Selmon could have easily learned bad habits in the NFL. He was the inaugural draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976. You may remember the expansion Bucs went on to lose their first 26 games as a franchise. Instead, Selmon would thrive. From 1979 through 1984, when an injury ended his career, he made the Pro Bowl every season. His career also included DPOY in 1979, a big reason why Selmon was the first member of the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.

Hayes is synonymous with stickum, the adhesive substance used back in the day by players trying to make it easy to grip the ball, so if you want to throw a caveat on all his numbers, you can. However, he clearly got his hands on many balls in 1980. The Raiders cornerback reeled in 13 interceptions, which he also turned into 273 return yards with one touchdown.

Taylor had many off-the-field issues, to be sure, but on the field, he may just be the best defensive player to ever do it. So much so, as a rookie with the Giants he won Defensive Player of the Year. In the last season before sacks became an official stat, he is retroactively credited with 9.5 of them to go with five forced fumbles. He also did this as a linebacker, not a defensive lineman.

Yes, Taylor was named Defensive Player of the Year in his first two seasons in the NFL. Immediately, he was a force. This was the strike season, so L.T. only got to play nine games, and only started eight. However, he racked up 7.5 sacks and returned an interception for a 97-yard touchdown.

After two seasons of a legend bursting onto the scene, our next DPOY winner is…a guy named Doug. When it comes to Offensive Player of the Year, it is more common for a guy to come out of nowhere, put it all together for one season, and win. Betters, a defensive end for the Miami Dolphins, is kind of the defensive equivalent of that. Suddenly, he exploded for 16 sacks, doubling his previous high, in what would be his only Pro Bowl season as well.

The idea of the “strong safety” doesn’t have much of a place in the modern NFL, but in the 1980s it very much did, and Easley, known as “The Enforcer,” was the epitome of that for the Seahawks. Now, the dude was quite good, arguably overlooked in terms of legacy. A three-time All-American in college, he is in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. He was First-Team All-Pro three seasons in a row, and in the middle season took home DPOY, bringing in 10 interceptions and returning two for scores.

The 1985 Chicago Bears are considered one of the best defenses ever. Singletary was the linebacker at the heart of that defense. If you are of the persuasion to love a middle linebacker who terrorizes opposing offenses, then Singletary has your love we’re sure. Unless you are a San Francisco 49ers fan who remembers his head coaching tenure all too well.

Taylor’s third, and final, DPOY award is also the second time a defensive player has been named MVP. That’s how good Taylor was for the Giants. That’s how disruptive his play was. He tallied a staggering 20.5 sacks, again playing linebacker, for New York, and unlike Page’s unremarkable voting numbers when he won MVP, Taylor was a unanimous choice.

If you are a ‘90s kid, you likely remember White from his time with the Green Bay Packers (and we will get to that). However, first White made his name with the Philadelphia Eagles. In the running for the greatest pass rusher ever, White had 21 sacks in 1987. That’s great in any context, but this was a strike year. White only played in 12 games.

Singletary won another DPOY for the Bears by…doing Singletary stuff? The thing with middle linebackers is that they don’t necessarily excel by racking up sacks or interceptions. The “counting stats” for Singletary are not remarkable. Of course, if you watched him out there in 1988, you may have had no doubt he was the best defensive player in football. He did make 10-straight Pro Bowls in his career, after all.

Millard may be better remembered if not for unfortunate injury issues, as a defensive tackle, he had double-digit sacks for the Vikings his first two seasons. Then, in 1989, he exploded with 18 sacks, which was a record for a defensive tackle until a guy we’ll get to later came around. Sadly, in Week 4 of the 1990 season Millard suffered a serious knee injury and barely played until 1993, when he got in 14 games with the Eagles and retired.

If Reggie White isn’t the best pass rusher of all time, it’s Smith. Smith has the most (official) career sacks with 200, and there’s not a single active NFL player who is making him sweat his spot atop the leaderboard. He was an absolute force, and 1990 was probably his best season. After all, Smith set a career high with 19 sacks, and threw in four forced fumbles for good measure.

As an outside linebacker in the New Orleans Saints’ 3-4 defense, Swilling is maybe a little overlooked these days, because he did tally over 100 sacks in his career. Right in the middle of a five-year Pro Bowl run, Swilling led the NFL in sacks with 17 in 1991. He added six forced fumbles, and returned an interception for a touchdown for good measure.

When the Miami Hurricanes started to make a name for themselves as the home of swagger and elite talent in college football, Kennedy was there. After winning two national titles, the Seahawks drafted the defensive tackle third overall, and it paid off. Never more than in 1992, when Kennedy notched 92 tackles, 14 sacks, and four forced fumbles. He actually made the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1990s, a reminder of just how good the Hall of Famer was.

Woodson had something not always common in football: Longevity. His Hall of Fame career was bolstered by the fact he debuted with the Steelers in 1987 and didn’t retire until after spending the 2003 season with the Raiders. He wasn’t phoning in the last years, either, as he led the NFL in interceptions in 2002. That being said, his one DPOY win came in 1993, when he had eight interceptions. He returned one for a touchdown, which is notable because Woodson’s 12 interception returns for touchdowns is an NFL record.

As brash as Deion Sanders was as a player, and he was never afraid to stroke his ego, he backed it up time and time again. There is an argument that Deion is the best cornerback to ever do it. After forcing his way out of Atlanta, he landed in San Francisco for the perfect Deion season. He only played in 14 games, but he locked it down whenever he was out there, and turned six interceptions into a staggering 303 return yards and three touchdowns. The 49ers won the Super Bowl…and then Deion bolted for Dallas after one season. He won another Super Bowl the next year with the Cowboys.

Sanders was a nice free-agent addition for the Niners, but the next year Paup did the same thing for the Bills. The pass-rushing outside linebacker left Green Bay for Buffalo, and in his first season in Upstate New York, Paup led the NFL with 17.5 sacks. Plus, he actually struck around for two more years! While the 1995 campaign was Paup’s best season clearly, he did make four Pro Bowls and finish with 75 career sacks, so he’s more “Hall of Very Good” than “Hall of Random Great Year.”

Smith took home his second, and final, DPOY with the Bills in 1996. He would play several more seasons en route to 200 sacks, and in fact had 14 sacks the next season, more than his 13.5 in 1996. Smith won DPOY in 1996, though, probably because he tallied 90 tackles (69 solo, to the extent that matters) and forced five fumbles. Sure, in 1997 he had 14 sacks, but he forced nary a fumble.

We’re going to breeze through this one. Not because Stubblefield was a good, not great, player, but because due to this we had forgotten that he is currently in prison for violent crime. He had 15 sacks for the 49ers in 1997 and finished fifth in MVP voting.

As previously mentioned, White spent several seasons with the Packers after his stint with the Eagles. In Philly, he was Defensive Player of the Year once, and he won it again in Green Bay. He’s the only multi-time DPOY winner to do it with more than one team. In his second-to-last season, and his final with the Packers before one year with the Panthers, White tallied 16 sacks, his most since 1988. Even at 37, he still had some life left in him.

A star in college, off-the-field issues (and some on-the-field issues), led Sapp to drop to 12th in the NFL Draft. The Buccaneers were happy about it, getting a guy on the NFL’s All-Decade Teams for the ‘90s and the 2000s. He only took home one DPOY, though, ending the 20th century with a win in 1999. It was his first of four seasons in a row as a first-team All-Pro defensive tackle.

Much as Singletary probably got a boost for being considered the heart of the 1985 Bears defense, Lewis’ DPOY win was certainly bolstered by him being the face of the Baltimore Ravens’ 2000 defense, also in the running for the best ever. When you look at his numbers, there is no real case for this as Lewis’ best campaign. The Ravens, though, were a juggernaut defensively, en route to a Super Bowl, so Lewis took home the award.

With a little credit going to Brett Favre, Strahan was an easy choice for voters in 2001. The Giants pass rusher set a new NFL record with 22.5 sacks, with the record breaker being one of the easiest sacks he ever got. Still, had he finished with 21.5 sacks and six forced fumbles, he would have been a worthy winner. Then, Strahan would become one of the biggest TV personalities out there, and not just in the world of sports. He’s won Daytime Emmy Awards!

Brooks is arguably the best defensive player in Buccaneers history. Sapp had higher highs, but he left the Bucs eventually. Brooks, meanwhile, played with Tampa for his entire career, running from 1995 through 2008. An off-ball linebacker who put together a Hall of Fame resume, he probably garnered some votes due to the Buccaneers having a Super Bowl-worthy defense in 2002. Brooks also had over 100 tackles and five interceptions, returning three of those interceptions for scores. Those are Deion numbers! From a linebacker!

The second win for the Hall of Fame middle linebacker, we’d call this a better season for Lewis than his first win. He had 121 solo tackles, for starters. Also, and probably owing to some good luck, Lewis had six interceptions. That’s double what he did in any other season.

Lewis, owing to sheer force of personality and a heaping helping of self-promotion, is the foremost face of the Ravens’ defensive dynasty in the early 2000s. Reed, though, was just as good at his position. The safety is a Hall of Famer as well, and made first-team All-Pro five times. In 2004, Reed turned his league-leading nine interceptions into 358 return yards. This was the first of three times Reed led the NFL in picks, which is tied for the NFL record.

The heir apparent to Mike Singletary, Urlacher spent his entire career as a middle linebacker for the Bears. He’s also a Hall of Famer. Though a tackling machine, Urlacher was a good pass rusher for a middle linebacker. In 2005, he had 122 tackles with six sacks, plus five passes defensed.

In 2002, Taylor would have been a great choice for DPOY, but he lost out to Brooks. The Hall of Famer did get his award in 2006, and it wasn’t a career-achievement award. His 13.5 sacks don’t wow, but he forces a whopping nine fumbles, and randomly turned two interceptions into touchdowns as a defensive end. That got him over the hump late in his career.

Sanders is likely to be forgotten to history, mostly because few players have ever had so much trouble staying healthy. The Colts safety had two seasons in his career where he played more than six games. Both times, though, he was a first-team All-Pro. In 2007, when he played a career-high 15 games, he won Defensive Player of the Year.

Harrison is a surprising success story. Undrafted out of college, it took him a few years to even make it in the NFL. The Steelers ended up giving him a shot after he spent a season with the Rhein Fire. Unsure if he would make the team, Harrison got a commercial truck driving license. Instead, he made the team, and eventually would make five Pro Bowls in a row. That includes 2008, when he set career highs with 101 tackles and 16 sacks, and tied a career high with seven forced fumbles.

Woodson had a lot to live up to. He won the Heisman as a defensive player, over Peyton Manning no less, and was then drafted fourth overall. It all worked out. Due to his vaunted status when drafted, his time with the Raiders was seen by some as, if not disappointing, not what it could have been. Then, he joined the Packers, where he twice led the NFL in interceptions. His peak was in 2009 when he had nine picks and returned three four touchdowns. After that, he played three more years in Green Bay, returned to Oakland for three seasons, and then ended his Hall of Fame career.

Polamalu is the last safety, to date, to win Defensive Player of the Year. Patrolling the secondary for the Steelers for over a decade, Polamalu was part of two Super Bowl teams. Then, in 2010, he won DPOY even though he only played in 14 games. He had seven picks, and by this point the feeling probably was, “We should give Polamalu this award while we can.” It was wise, as he only had one All-Pro season left.

Suggs, a pass-rushing linebacker, joined the Ravens in 2003, bringing fresh blood to that defense. Even though he didn’t start as a rookie, Suggs picked up 12 sacks. The 2011 season would be his best, as he picked up 14 sacks and a league-high seven forced fumbles. When Suggs retired, he was the Ravens career sack leader, and he will be in the Hall of Fame soon enough.

Watt gave the Texans something the team hasn’t had a lot of: An all-time talent, a future Hall of Famer. In 2012, only his second year in the NFL, the 3-4 defensive end had one of the best seasons a defender has ever had. Not only did he tally 20.5 sacks and a whopping 39 tackles for loss, but he used his ball-swatting skills to defend 16 passes.

Polamalu was the last safety, to date, to win this award. Kuechly is the last of the “tackling machine middle linebackers” to win, and there’s a good chance he might be the last to do so. The offball linebacker is not big in the modern, pass-happy NFL. Kuechley decided to call his career early, after only eight seasons, but he made seven Pro Bowls and was a five-time first-team All-Pro in his career. In 2013, the career-long Panther had 156 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, seven passes defensed, and four interceptions.

Watt is back at it, with a season arguably as good as his DPOY-winning campaign in 2012. We noted that may have been the best defensive season ever so, yeah, Watt was quite good at football. Once again, he had 20.5 sacks. Though he dropped from 39 tackles for loss to 29 and from 16 passes defensed to 10, he had four forced fumbles and recovered five fumbles, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Throw in an interception he turned into an 80-yard score and the only safety of his career, and Watt had another incredible campaign.

Yes, in 2015, Watt joined Taylor as the second player to win Defensive Player of the Year three times. Now, you can’t really argue that Watt’s campaign was as strong as his previous two DPOY-winning seasons, but he was great again. This was his final time leading the NFL in sacks and tackles for loss, this time posting 17.5 of the former and 29 of the latter. Now that Watt is retired, the Hall of Fame waits.

Mack’s best season came in 2015 but, well, Watt got in his way. With Watt unfortunately limited to three games in 2016, Mack got a chance to win DPOY for the Raiders. The pass rusher (Mack has played defensive end and outside linebacker) had 11 sacks, 14 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, and an interception he returned for a touchdown. Mack is, notably, the first active player on this list, so he has more career ahead of him. The next step for him? The 100-sack club.

Donald, a defensive tackle, was already really impressive in the first three seasons of his career, moving with the Rams from St. Louis to Los Angeles. Then, in 2017, he picked up a Defensive Player of the Year award. Donald had 11 sacks – great for a defensive tackle, with five forced fumbles as well.

Donald’s 2018 campaign is also in the running for the best defensive season anybody has had. He notched 20.5 sacks and 25 tackles for loss. Both led the NFL. Again, Donald is a defensive tackle. A defensive tackle having that many sacks was legitimately unheard of. Nobody has ever rushed the passer better from the tackle position.

Maybe Gilmore’s win in 2019 was a bit of voter fatigue with Donald. He had 12.5 sacks and a league-leading 20 tackles for loss this season, after all. Although, Gilmore was great, the best cornerback in the NFL. He led the NFL with six interceptions and 20 passes defensed. That is blanketing opponents, though Gilmore is about to be on his fourth team in as many seasons. The NFL can be weird.

Here Donald joined Taylor and Watt as three-time DPOY winners. Those three are also in the running as the best defensive players ever, fittingly. Through the Ram dealt with double, and sometimes triple, teams, Donald picked up 13.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss, and four forced fumbles. He’s murmured about retiring, but maybe Donald will keep going to try and get that fourth DPOY, putting himself on another level.

Well, the Watt brothers combined have four DPOY awards. J.J. left a real legacy, but T.J. has proven to be no slouch. In 2021, he didn’t just lead the NFL in sacks. His 22.5 sacks tied him for the NFL record. Now, you might note this was a 17-game season, but Watt missed two games. That means he had 22.5 sacks in 15 contests. No asterisks necessary.

We were just talking about the Watt brothers, and now we arrive at a DPOY winner who is also part of a pair of pass-rushing brothers. Joey, who has had issues staying healthy, has been a Pro Bowler, but Nick’s pulled ahead in terms of career at the moment. His 2022 win for the Niners was all about getting to the quarterback. Bosa led the NFL with 18.5 sacks, and added 19 tackles for loss as well. Now, Joey just has to get a DPOY so they can join the Watts as sibling winners.

There were some good options for 2023's DPOY race. T.J. Watt once again paced the NFL in sacks with 19. Daron Bland had nine picks, turning a record five of them into touchdowns. Bland's teammate Micah Parsons was a force. In the end, though, Garrett won the award, which was interesting. Now, Garrett has been great since the Browns drafted him first overall, and at his peak in 2023 he was as unstoppable as anybody. His 14 sacks and four forced fumbles are impressive, to be sure. However, after Garrett suffered a shoulder injury, he was no longer quite so dominant. Maybe voters gave him the benefit of the doubt, or perhaps didn't want to give Watt another DPOY. In the end, Garrett eked out the vote, getting 23 first-place votes to T.J.'s 19.