A playmaker on offense can make a big difference in an NFL game. A playmaker on defense can not only prevent that, he can make a big difference of his own.
At BetMichigan.com, covering a topic of importance for Michigan sports betting, we wanted to know how often different NFL positions win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Using Pro-Football-Reference.com, we found the average age of recipients and how often positions won the Associated Press DPOY award since 2000.
Defensive Player Of The Year Trends: Positions
Position | % of Wins |
DL | 41.7% |
LB | 37.5% |
DB | 20.8% |
For odds on this year’s DPOY and other NFL accolades, check out our NFL awards page.
When it comes to Defensive Player of the Year, bigger is better.
Defensive ends have won the honor seven times since 2000 and defensive tackles (well, Aaron Donald) have claimed it three times for a total of 10 among linemen, or 41.7% of the time in that span. That is one more than linebackers, who have combined for nine awards, or 37.5%. The other five awards (20.8%) since 2000 were claimed by defensive backs.
Michigan sports betting apps offer a wide variety of prop bets for the upcoming 2024-25 NFL season, including odds on individual awards such as DOPY.
Recent DPOY Winners
These statistics are derived from the list of Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year since 2000, according to pro-football-reference.com records. The award goes back to 1971.
Last year, defensive end Myles Garrett claimed the award – he was the first Cleveland Browns player ever voted DPOY. Garrett, in his seventh season with the Browns, had 14 sacks in 2023-24, to go with four forced fumbles, 30 QB hits and a career-high 20 in PFR’s Approximate Value metric.
The year before, another defensive end, Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers, was named Defensive Player of the Year. Other recent winners include Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (2021), Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald (2020) and New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore (2019).
For the upcoming season, Caesars Michigan Sportsbook has Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys as the slight favorite at +500 odds, followed by Watt (+575) and Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders (+675).
Garrett has +750 odds to repeat his feat from last season, when he garnered 23 first-place votes and 165 vote points to edge out Watt (19 first-place votes, 140 vote points) for the honor.
For Michigan fans, Detroit’s rising third-year defensive end, Aidan Hutchinson is sixth on the Caesars board at +1000 odds. Follow us at BetMichigan.com for regular updates on Detroit Lions Super Bowl odds all season.
Defensive Player Of The Year Trends: Average Age
Average Age | 27 |
The DPOY is a young man’s game, it seems. When Donald earned the award for the third time in 2020, he was age 29. Garrett was 28 last year. Bosa was 25 in his DPOY season, Watt was 27 and Gilmore was also 29.
BetMichigan.com will have much more coverage as the season gets underway. Check out our Offensive Player of the Year Awards trend story as well.
USA Today photo by Bob Donnan
