Garrett named NFL's Defensive Player of the Year for second time

Historic.

That’s the best word to describe Myles Garrett’s 2025 campaign with the Cleveland Browns.

Or perhaps it’s “dominant”?

Either way, the Texas A&M legend was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year during Thursday night’s NFL Honors in San Francisco.

In 2025, the seven-time Pro Bowler was simply the best. Literally ever.

Across Cleveland’s 17 games, Garrett recorded a record-breaking 23.0 sacks to surpass the previous mark of 22.5, which was held by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan.

Garrett’s 23rd sack of the season came in Week 18 with the Browns clinging to a 17-12 lead and just over five minutes remaining. On first-and-10 from the Cleveland 46, the Aggie got around the Cincinnati left tackle to bring down Joe Burrow and achieve history.

Nearly a quarter of a century after Strahan’s 2001 campaign, Garrett became the NFL’s single-season sack leader.

That’s not too bad for the first year of an incredible four-year, $160 million extension that will keep him in Cleveland through 2030.

With 125.5 sacks in his nine-year career, the former No. 1-overall pick could challenge Bruce Smith’s all-time mark of 200.0 if he continues terrorizing opposing quarterbacks for the next few years. Afterall, Garrett already ranks among the league’s top 20...ever...as he enters his age-31 season.

In addition to the league-best 23.0 sacks for 165 yards in losses, he also had an NFL-leading 33 TFLs to go along with 60 total tackles, 39 QB hits, one pass deflection and three forced fumbles.

He did all of that despite 5-12 Cleveland slumping to a fourth-place finish in the AFC North as head coach Kevin Stefanski was fired at the end of the year.

Of course, anybody who watched Garrett in Maroon & White is not shocked by his dominance at the professional level.

During a three-year career at A&M, Garrett recorded 32.5 sacks for 197 yards in losses to go along with 48.5 TFLs for 252 yards in losses. As an Aggie, he had 84 career total tackles, one interception, seven forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.

As a freshman in 2014, Garrett earned second-team All-SEC honors. In 2015 and 2016, he was a first-team all-conference selection. As a sophomore, he was named a first-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and the Football Writers Association of America.

As a junior, Garrett left no doubt and was a unanimous All-American.

To win the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year, Garrett beat out Houston’s Will Anderson Jr., Denver’s Nik Bonitto, Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson and Green Bay’s Micah Parsons.

When it comes to getting to the quarterback, none of the other four finalists had more than 15.0 sacks.

Simply put: Myles Garrett was historically dominant.