Every NFL Defensive Player of the Year Winner

The Associated Press has handed out the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award every season since 1971, and 55 trophies have gone out through the 2025 season. Alan Page won the first one. Myles Garrett won the most recent, unanimously, after breaking the single-season sack record. Three men — Lawrence Taylor, J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald — have won it three times each.

Below is the complete year-by-year list, followed by the repeat winners, the position breakdown that explains why pass rushers dominate the ballot, and the two players who pulled off the rarest double in football.

The Short Answer

Every AP Defensive Player of the Year, 1971–2025

Unlike the AP MVP award, the DPOY ballot has never produced a tie. Every season since 1971 has exactly one winner.

The Repeat Winners

Nine players have won Defensive Player of the Year more than once. Three of them have won it three times, and nobody has ever won four.

The three-timers each got there a different way. Lawrence Taylor won as a rookie in 1981, repeated in 1982, then won again in 1986 on the back of a league-leading 20.5 sacks. J.J. Watt is the only man to win three times in a four-year span (2012, 2014, 2015), and he did it from the interior of Houston's front. Aaron Donald won three times in four seasons as a defensive tackle, which is remarkable given that the position rarely produces the eye-catching sack totals voters reward.

One more wrinkle: J.J. and T.J. Watt are the only brothers to have both won the award. T.J. took his in 2021 with 22.5 sacks in 15 games.

Position Breakdown: Why Pass Rushers Own This Award

Sort all 55 winners by the position they were listed at, and the picture is lopsided.

The front seven has taken 43 of 55 awards. The secondary has 12.

The listed positions actually understate the pass-rush skew. Several of those linebacker wins went to players who lined up on the edge and rushed the passer for a living: Lawrence Taylor, Pat Swilling, Bryce Paup, James Harrison, Terrell Suggs and T.J. Watt all won primarily on sack production. Group edge defenders together regardless of whether a team called them DE or OLB, and they account for well over half the award's history.

The reason is simple: sacks are the one defensive statistic that everyone tracks, that appears on every highlight package, and that voters can compare cleanly from player to player. Coverage does not produce a comparable number. A cornerback's best games are the ones where nothing happens on his side of the field, and "quarterbacks stopped throwing at him" is a hard case to make on a ballot.

That is why defensive backs win so rarely. Only seven cornerbacks have ever taken the trophy, and the gaps between them are enormous — Mel Blount in 1975, Lester Hayes in 1980, then nothing until Rod Woodson in 1993. Deion Sanders followed in 1994, Charles Woodson in 2009, Stephon Gilmore in 2019 and Patrick Surtain II in 2024. Blount, Hayes, Woodson and Sanders all had double-digit or near-double-digit interception seasons. Gilmore led the league with six picks and returned two for touchdowns. Surtain broke a five-year gap in 2024.

Safeties are rarer still. Only five have won: Dick Anderson (1973), Kenny Easley (1984), Ed Reed (2004), Bob Sanders (2007) and Troy Polamalu (2010). No safety has won in 15 seasons.

The Two Men Who Won DPOY and MVP in the Same Season

Only two defensive players have ever been named AP Most Valuable Player, and both of them also won Defensive Player of the Year that same year.

Alan Page, 1971. The Vikings defensive tackle was the very first DPOY winner, and in the same voting he became the first defensive player to win MVP in the award's history. Minnesota went 11-3 and allowed the fewest points in the NFL.

Lawrence Taylor, 1986. Taylor's 20.5-sack season made him a unanimous MVP selection, the only defensive player ever chosen unanimously for the award. He collected his third DPOY in the same offseason, and the Giants went 14-2 and won Super Bowl XXI.

Nobody has done it since. T.J. Watt's 2021 season and Myles Garrett's 2025 both drew MVP conversation, but the AP MVP has gone to a quarterback every season since 2013 — Matthew Stafford took the 2025 award. If you want the full picture of how one-sided that ballot has become, see Every NFL MVP Winner in League History.

Which Franchises Have the Most

Pittsburgh is the runaway leader, and it is not close.

Four of Pittsburgh's eight came in a five-year stretch in the 1970s, when the Steel Curtain defense was winning Super Bowls. The Ravens' four all came between 2000 and 2011. Houston's three all belong to one player.

Myles Garrett's 2025: A Record and a Clean Sweep

Garrett closed the 2025 season with 23 sacks, breaking the single-season record of 22.5 shared by Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021). Both of those men are on this list, which makes the record something like a DPOY family heirloom.

The vote was not close. Garrett took all 50 first-place ballots for 500 points, a unanimous win. Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. finished second with 177. Garrett also led the NFL with 33 tackles for loss, posted career highs of 60 tackles and 39 quarterback hits, and sacked 11 different quarterbacks.

It was his second DPOY after 2023, making him the ninth multiple winner. He is also the only player ever to win the award for the Cleveland Browns, and he has now done it twice. That is a notable line for a franchise that has not won a championship since 1964 — see Every NFL Team's Championship Drought, Ranked for where Cleveland sits on that list, and Which NFL Teams Have Never Won a Super Bowl for the twelve franchises still waiting.

The Browns also swept both defensive awards in 2025: linebacker Carson Schwesinger was named Defensive Rookie of the Year at the same ceremony. On the other side of the ball, Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan took Offensive Rookie of the Year — the full history of that award is in Every NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Winner in History.

This page updates every February, after the NFL Honors ceremony announces the new Defensive Player of the Year.

FAQ

Who has won the most NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards? Three players are tied with three each: Lawrence Taylor (1981, 1982, 1986), J.J. Watt (2012, 2014, 2015) and Aaron Donald (2017, 2018, 2020). Nobody has won four.

Who won Defensive Player of the Year in 2025? Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns, unanimously. He recorded 23 sacks, a single-season NFL record, and collected all 50 first-place votes.

When did the NFL start giving out Defensive Player of the Year? The Associated Press first awarded it after the 1971 season. Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings was the inaugural winner.

Has a defensive player ever won NFL MVP? Twice. Alan Page in 1971 and Lawrence Taylor in 1986. Both won Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, and both played for teams that finished with the best or near-best record in the league.

How many cornerbacks have won Defensive Player of the Year? Seven: Mel Blount (1975), Lester Hayes (1980), Rod Woodson (1993), Deion Sanders (1994), Charles Woodson (2009), Stephon Gilmore (2019) and Patrick Surtain II (2024).

When was the last time a safety won? Troy Polamalu in 2010. Only five safeties have ever won the award, and none in the 15 seasons since.

Which team has the most Defensive Players of the Year? The Pittsburgh Steelers with eight, from Joe Greene in 1972 through T.J. Watt in 2021. No other franchise has more than four.

Has a rookie ever won Defensive Player of the Year? Yes — Lawrence Taylor in 1981, in his first NFL season with the Giants. He is the only player to win it as a rookie. The NFL gives out a separate Defensive Rookie of the Year award, which Carson Schwesinger won in 2025.