At Thursday night’s NFL Honours ceremony, Myles Garrett received recognition for his outstanding 2023 season as the NFL’s AP Defensive Player of the Year. Since the award’s inception in 1971, Garrett is the first player from the Browns to get it.
The standout from Cleveland defeated T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons, Las Vegas Raiders’ Maxx Crosby, and Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland to win the prize. Voting results show that Garrett barely defeated Watt, his AFC North adversary, by a margin of 15 points.
With Garrett at the helm, the Browns defence went from being among the worst in the league in 2022 to being among the best in 2023. The 28-year-old started the season on a complete rip, leading the league with 13 sacks through the first ten weeks of play. He only picked up one more sack in the final seven games of Cleveland’s season, so it wasn’t nearly as fruitful. to place eighth overall among his contemporaries.
But while Garrett’s teammates and coaches argued throughout the season for him to win the award, this year demonstrated that the DPOY Award was about more than simply sacks. Even with the decline in sacks, Garrett continued to be a game-changer, with teams designing complete strategies to slow him down each week. Garrett ultimately recorded 37 total pressures and 30 quarterback hits. Garrett also had the highest pass rush victory percentage (27%) of any player in the NFL, according to PFF.
About a month before to receiving this honour, Garrett was also awarded the 2023 Pro Football Writers of America Defensive Player of the Year and All-NFL Team. The defensive standout from 2017 is the latest in a long line of NFL greats who have won both honours in the same season. Since 1992, the Pro Football Writers of America have only named one DPOY; only four times (1993, 2010, 2013, and 2017) have both organisations failed to choose the same player for both.
Although Garrett has had some statistically superior seasons overall throughout his first six years in the league, he has never seemed to be recognised as the DPOY. As the first player from the Browns to win the award, he now creates history and strengthens his already strong case for a first ballot Hall of Fame resume.
There are other Browns players that have won awards at the NFL Honours besides Garrett. Jim Schwartz, the man behind Cleveland’s revamped defence, won the AP Assistant Coach of the Year award. In addition, head coach Kevin Stefanski won his second AP Coach of the Year Award after leading the Browns through a plethora of injuries to finish 11-6 and secure a postseason berth for the second time in his tenure. Even Joe Flacco took home a trophy, being chosen AP Comeback Player of the Year.
Contributing to a number of Northeast Ohio websites, including Browns Digest, Cleveland Baseball Insider, and Cavs Insider, is Spencer German. In addition, he fills in as a host on Cleveland Sports Radio, 92.3 The Fan, a radio affiliate of the Cleveland Browns.
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