Myles Garrett won the 2025 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award unanimously, taking all 50 first-place votes after breaking the single-season sack record with 23.0, and then got traded from Cleveland to the Los Angeles Rams. He is the favorite to repeat on a board of 55 named defenders trading roughly $644K in cumulative volume across Kalshi and Polymarket. The live board above ranks the current price on every contender; the Associated Press announces the winner at NFL Honors during Super Bowl LXI week in February 2027.
The 2026 NFL Defensive Player of the Year race opens with the reigning winner on a new team and the highest bar the award has ever carried. Myles Garrett won the 2025 award unanimously, collecting all 50 first-place votes after breaking the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0, and the Cleveland Browns then traded him to the Los Angeles Rams on June 1, 2026 for Jared Verse plus a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second and a 2029 third. Fifty-five defenders carry a price on this board, which trades roughly $644K in cumulative volume across Kalshi and Polymarket. The live board above ranks the current price on every name; this page covers who the field is, what the 2025 tape says about them, and how the award resolves.
Myles Garrett is the market's clear favorite and the only defender on the board who has already won this twice. His 2025 season was 23.0 sacks, 60 tackles and 15 run stuffs across all 17 games, and the 50-member Associated Press panel gave him every available first-place ballot. A third DPOY would put him in a three-man club with Lawrence Taylor, J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald, and he would collect it in the city his new team plays in, since NFL Honors runs during Super Bowl LXI week at SoFi Stadium on February 14, 2027. The near-term risk is already visible. Garrett missed roughly two weeks of his first Rams camp with knee swelling that head coach Sean McVay called soreness in his lower half, and the Rams 2026 win total market prices the team he was acquired to finish.
Will Anderson Jr. and Aidan Hutchinson form the chase tier. Anderson played all 17 games for Houston in 2025 with 12.0 sacks, 10.5 run stuffs and three forced fumbles, and his ceiling case runs through his own teammate: Danielle Hunter posted 15.0 sacks on the same defensive line, which splits the Texans pass-rush story two ways on a ballot. Hutchinson answered the question the market was pricing a year ago. He played every game for Detroit, finished with 14.5 sacks and four forced fumbles, and added a 58-yard interception return. The health discount that made him a comeback trade in 2025 no longer applies, so his price now reflects production rather than recovery.
Nik Bonitto is the newest name in the top five and did not appear on this page a year ago. He put up 14.0 sacks in all 17 games for Denver, more than Anderson and within a half sack of Hutchinson. Jalen Carter is the board's interior exception, an Eagles defensive tackle whose 2025 line reads 3.0 sacks in 12 games with seven passes defensed and two blocked kicks, so his contract is a wager that voters credit disruption over the sack column. Maxx Crosby's case is run defense as much as pass rush: 10.0 sacks in 15 games, plus 73 tackles and 23.5 run stuffs, the largest stuff total of any contender listed here. Three former favorites carry heavy discounts for public reasons. Micah Parsons tore his ACL and meniscus on December 14, 2025 and had surgery on December 29, and he has said a Week 6 return around October 18, 2026 is realistic, so he opens on the physically unable to perform list. Nick Bosa played three games in 2025. Trey Hendrickson managed 4.0 sacks in seven games and now rushes for Baltimore.
The two players who finished behind Garrett in 2025 sacks are not the two players behind him on this board. Brian Burns recorded 16.5 sacks, second in the NFL, with 67 tackles across all 17 games for the Giants, and he trades outside the board's top ten. Hunter's 15.0 sits in the same range. The market prefers Anderson and Hutchinson because DPOY voting rewards a season that reads as dominance rather than one that reads as a total, and 23.0 reset what dominance looks like. The second structural read is the defensive back carve-out. Pat Surtain II won the 2024 award as a cornerback, only the second defensive back since 2010 to take it after Stephon Gilmore, and this field reflects that precedent: Christian Gonzalez, Derek Stingley Jr., Quinyon Mitchell, Kyle Hamilton and Sauce Gardner all carry live contracts. Each of those is a bet that 2024 was a pattern rather than an outlier. Kalshi and Polymarket both list the deep tail here, and the two books diverge most on the injured names, where a return date is the entire disagreement. Broader league context sits on the NFL prediction markets hub.
The 2026 NFL Defensive Player of the Year market resolves to the player named Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press, announced at the NFL Honors ceremony during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles in February 2027. The award is decided by a 50-member panel of national media voters who cast ballots after the regular season ends, which for the 2026 season means after Week 18 in January 2027. The winning player's contract pays out and every other contender resolves to zero. The listed settlement date carries to March 10, 2027 as a buffer, but the outcome is fixed the moment the AP announcement is made, and a Tie/Co-Winners contract is listed for the split-vote case.
The award boards move on the same weekly evidence, so the 2026 NFL MVP market and the 2026 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year market reprice off the same games, and the 2026 NFL Coach of the Year market tracks the staffs those defenses play for. For the team outcome behind every individual case, Super Bowl LXI champion odds carry the title field, and the Los Angeles Rams market hub collects every contract tied to Garrett's new team.
Resolves to the player named the 2026 NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press, announced at the NFL Honors ceremony during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles in February 2027. The award is decided by a 50-member panel of national media voters who cast ballots after the regular season ends. The winning player’s contract pays $1 per share; every other contender contract resolves to $0. The listed market settlement date carries to March 10, 2027 as a buffer, but the outcome is fixed at the AP announcement. A Tie/Co-Winners contract is listed to cover a split vote, and any player not individually listed settles under the platform’s catch-all rules.
The live board above ranks current prices on all 55 contenders across Kalshi and Polymarket. Myles Garrett leads the field, with Will Anderson Jr. and Aidan Hutchinson in the chase tier and Nik Bonitto and Jalen Carter next.
The Associated Press announces its DPOY winner at NFL Honors during Super Bowl LXI week, with the game set for February 14, 2027 at SoFi Stadium. The market carries a settlement buffer to March 10, 2027, but the outcome is fixed at the announcement.
Both Kalshi and Polymarket list this award, and roughly $644K in cumulative volume sits across the two books. Kalshi carries the longer tail of named defenders, including several who have no Polymarket contract at all.
Myles Garrett, who won the 2025 award unanimously with all 50 first-place votes and a record 23.0 sacks, and who now plays for the Los Angeles Rams after a June 1, 2026 trade that sent Jared Verse and three picks to Cleveland. A third DPOY would tie him with Lawrence Taylor, J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald for the most ever.
Watch Garrett’s knee after he missed about two weeks of Rams camp, Micah Parsons’ return from December 2025 ACL and meniscus surgery around Week 6, and whether Houston splits votes between Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, who combined for 27.0 sacks in 2025.