Myles Garrett has won the Defensive Player of the Year award for the 2023-2024 season. It’s not that much of a surprise as he’s the NFL’s top pass rusher on arguably the best defense in the league.
But what is surprising is how low Maxx Crosby finished in the voting. He wasn’t expected to win the award, but most believed that he would finish inside the top three. That was not the case.
Crosby received zero first-place votes and only five second-place votes. He finished with 21 points, which was well behind Garrett, T.J. Watt and Micah Parsons.
Voting for AP Defensive Player of the Year (5-3-1 scoring):
Myles Garrett, Cleveland, 23-13-11=165
T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh, 19-11-12=140
Micah Parsons, Dallas, 7-16-6=89
Maxx Crosby, Las Vegas, 0-5-6=21
DaRon Bland, Dallas, 1-2-3=14
Antoine Winfield Jr., Tampa Bay, 0-2-1=7
Fred…— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) February 9, 2024
Crosby might be the NFL’s most complete EDGE rusher as he’s just as good against the run as he is rushing the quarterback. Unfortunately, that just doesn’t seem to matter when it comes to the NFL’s Honors. It’s a shame, because Crosby should get more credit for just how good he was during the 2023 season.