- Myles Garrett racked up 12 sacks in 14 games for the 2020-2021 season.
- He has +550 odds to win the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2021.
- Garrett has missed eight games in his last two seasons, which prevented him from previously competing for the award.
CLEVELAND - Myles Garrett has swiftly risen to the ranks of the NFL’s elite pass rushers but eight missed games in his last two seasons have kept him out of the Defensive Player of the Year conversation consistently.
Garrett now sits near the top of the Defensive Player of the Year odds boards with sportsbooks, behind only perennial winner Aaron Donald, who will be looking for his fourth DPOY award this year.
NFL 2021-2022 - Defensive Player of the Year Winner
- Aaron Donald +500
- Myles Garrett +550
- Chase Young +800
- TJ Watt +800
- Joey Bosa +1200
- Khalil Mack +1500
- Nick Bosa +1500
- Devin White +2000
- Derwin James +2200
Garrett is on a team that is generally expected to be on the rise in the 2021 NFL season, even after a decent playoff run in 2020.
The Cleveland Browns added Malik Jackson and Jadeveon Clowney to their defensive line and Garrett is grateful to have those running mates.
“I've got my Kyrie and my Love?" said Garrett in an interview with the Akron Beacon Journal, referencing Lebron James’ championship run with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the context of Jackson and Clowney joining him.
“Well, hell, I have to prove that I'm LeBron first before anything. I have to prove that I'm the playmaker at all levels,” Garrett continued.
Garrett seems aware of his issues with availability and has openly discussed how his case of COVID-19 derailed his season in 2020.
“Whether I finished the year or not, the year I was having before COVID was dominant,” Garrett said. “And afterward, I should have and could have done better. I didn't come back how I wanted to, feeling how I was supposed to, but I can't make excuses for that.”
His goal, at this point, is clearly to win Defensive Player of the Year, and he does have a point when he discusses how good he was before his season was hit by the Coronavirus.
“The guys who were in the talks to win DPOY, Watt and Donald, great players, but I was right among them before I was hit with COVID. They didn't get it. So they were available.“
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Myles Garrett Regular Season Sacks O/U Odds
- OVER 12.5 -110
- UNDER 12.5 -120
Garrett put up 12 sacks in 14 games last year, and in the context of having COVID-19 and struggling to play after it, those are fairly impressive numbers.
One wonders what he could have done if he played those extra two games, or if his COVID case had passed quickly with no lingering effects.
Aaron Donald, who won the award, ended up with 13.5 sacks in 16 games, with 28 QB hits to Garrett’s 18.
It does seem like Garrett could be the kind of player who leads the NFL in sacks over the course of the year - as long as he can play the full 17 games.
For now, sports betting fans have those +550 odds, which reflect how hard it is to predict award winners in this sport.
Garrett is a safe bet because if he has a great season, the almighty narrative will likely be on his side.
Donald, his main competition, may have actually reached that LeBron James stage of voter fatigue, having won three of the last four DPOY awards.
King James himself certainly favors Garrett, with LeBron recently describing him as “a flat-out beast”.
Everything seems to be aligning for Garrett off of the field - it’s just a question of whether it will align on the field for him at this point.
Maxwell joined the USAOnlineSportsbooks team in 2019. He focuses on creating sports betting content that informs and educates. He focuses on the NBA, the NFL, College Football and Basketball, and whatever else comes across his desk.
