has formally completed checking off a significant item on his checklist.
At NFL Honors on Thursday, Cleveland’s monstrous rusher was awarded his first-ever Associated Press 2023 Defensive Player of the Year Award.
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T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to Garrett 165–140 in the vote. Watt received eleven first-place votes, compared to Garrett’s 23.
The top five was rounded out by Dallas Cowboys defensive back DaRon Bland (14; one first-place vote), Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby (21) and linebacker Micah Parsons (89), of the Dallas Cowboys, who finished third with seven first-place votes.
Speaking about arriving at this point as early as the 2019 campaign, Garrett makes it a yearly priority. Although it never looked ambitious, it took him seven seasons to succeed, and now it’sHowever, it would be incorrect to sum up Garrett’s 2023 season without mentioning that he played despite a shoulder ailment for the most of the season, which initially gave Browns supporters cause for concern that his season would end early. Despite the discomfort, Garrett persevered, taking up a lot of mental space on the other sidelines, which attracted extra attention from pass blockers and allowed his teammates to continue being the best defense in the NFL. He placed in the top 10 in all significant statistical categories, including forced fumbles (tied for fifth), tackles for loss (tied for seventh), sacks, QB hits (eighth), and tackles for loss (tied for ninth).
The Browns just don’t become a superior team without Garrett. And prior to the injury, he was a total threat, recording at least one sack in eight of his first ten games and winning several games for Cleveland on his own. He blocked Matt Gay’s 60-yard field goal attempt with a strip-sack of Gardner Minshew, which turned an exciting shootout in Indianapolis in the Browns’ favor. If people around the world weren’t aware of his accomplishments before that game, they were after seeing him vault over a row of linemen.
Garrett was a highlight reel machine who frequently went viral with videos of his incredible athleticism stunning viewers. His mocking of a basketball crossover prior to the snapGarrett tied for eighth place in the NFL with 14 sacks, the gold standard of admittedly erroneous statistics used to evaluate defenders. In his final seven games, including the postseason (and a rest week in Week 18), he recorded just one sack.