Browns star pass rusher Myles Garrett has played some ridiculously dominant games this year, but he arguably hasn't received as much recognition from the NFL as he should have.
Garrett was passed over for AFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 11 despite his four-sack performance against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens on Sunday. Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks won it instead, and Brooks also won it back in Week 8 when Garrett logged five sacks against the Patriots.
CBS analyst JJ Watt, who knows a thing or two about defense himself, voiced his grievances with the league over seeing Garrett get snubbed yet again:
“The requirement that your team win the game for you to win an individual award is very bizarre. It’s best defensive player of the week. Not best defensive player whose offense also played well this week,” Watt wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The requirement that your team win the game for you to win an individual award is very bizarre.
It’s best defensive player of the week.
Not best defensive player whose offense also played well this week. https://t.co/BFsBfhM5zO
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 19, 2025
Fellow NFL analyst Mina Kimes also chimed in and agreed with Watt, going as far as saying Garrett deserved the award nearly every week:
The truth is Myles Garrett should probably win this....almost every week 😬 https://t.co/Pj2Vt7r3Jj
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) November 20, 2025
Not to discredit Brooks who led the Dolphins with 20 tackles, the most in a single game in the NFL this season, in Sunday’s win over the Commanders, but Watt and Kimes do have a point. Garrett has produced for Cleveland week in and week out despite his offense's pitiful showings; when he’s not taking down the quarterback, he’s blowing up runs in the backfield or making his presence felt in other areas of the field.
Garrett won his first career Defensive Player of the Year award in 2023 and is currently the favorite to win it again this year, facing competition from the Packers’ Micah Parsons and Broncos’ Nik Bonitto, among others. The Browns defensive end has a league-high 15 sacks along with 39 combined tackles and one forced fumble across 10 games so far. He might not be getting the recognition he deserves when it comes the league’s weekly honors, but hopefully he’ll be given his flowers at the season’s end.
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