SAN FRANCISCO — As if there was any doubt, Myles Garrett has won the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year award, officially being handed the distinction in unanimous fashion at the NFL Honors on Thursday night. This comes after the Cleveland Browns pass rusher orchestrated a record-setting year, breaking the single-season sack record with 23. This is the second DPOY award Garrett has won in his career, with the first coming in 2023. 

Garrett’s 23 sacks surpassed both Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021), who co-held the record at 22.5. On top of the sacks, Garrett had 33 tackles for loss, which were the second-most in the NFL over the last 25 years. His 39 quarterback hits also ranked second in the league in 2025. 

The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft was heads and shoulders above the rest of his peers this season when it came to sacking the quarterback. Garrett had 6.5 more sacks than the next closest player this season (Brian Burns with 16.5). 

One critique of Garrett breaking the sack record has been that the Browns pass rusher did have the luxury of an extra game with the NFL moving to an 18-week regular season (17 games) in 2021. However, as CBS Sports Research notes, Garrett actually had fewer chances to collect sacks this season than both Strahan and Watt. 

In 2025, the Browns faced 562 dropbacks, which was the third-fewest in the NFL. When Strahan broke the record in 2001, his Giants faced 576 dropbacks. As for Watt, his Steelers faced 649 dropbacks in 2021 when he tied himself with Strahan. That further highlights just how impressive and dominant Garrett was this season. 

Garrett beat out a group of finalists consisting of Will Anderson Jr. (Texans), Nik Bonitto (Broncos), Aidan Hutchinson (Lions), and Micah Parsons (Packers) for the award.