The Associated Press first awarded their Defensive Player of the Year Award back in 1971. It was won by Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Alan Page. On Thursday night, the 2021 AP Defensive Player of the Year Award went to Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
Watt is the seventh different Steeler to win the title in its 50-year history. This means a full 16 percent of the Defensive Players of the Year have been Steelers. There have been 40 different players who have won the award with Pittsburgh accounting for seven of those. That is a full 17.5 percent of the total winners coming from Pittsburgh.
Here are the Steelers DPOY winners of the past.
1972-DT Joe Greene
1974-DT Joe Greene
1976-CB Mel Blount
1993-CB Rod Woodson
2008-LB James Harrison
2010-S Troy Polamalu
2021-LB T.J. Watt
