The reigning Defensive Player of the Year has a new home, but injury is going to take a toll on his chances of repeating.
Myles Garrett won the AP NFL DPOY award unanimously in 2025, receiving all 50 first-place votes after breaking the single-season sack record with 23 sacks. That was the second DPOY win of his career, and he trails only Lawrence Taylor, J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald for the most DPOY awards in NFL history, with each of those names nabbing the award three times.
Both Watt and Donald won three in the span of four years, and while Garrett opened the year favored to do just that, a knee injury has sidelined him for now.
Let’s take a look at the odds to win the 2026 NFL Defensive Player of the Year at FanDuel Sportsbook as of Nov. 3.
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What To Know: Anderson is the star of a vaunted Houston defense, one that was best in the league last year. Through seven games in 2026, Anderson has recorded 33 total tackles (17 solo), 7.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Since Myles Garrett’s injury, he’s been the favorite in this spot. Anderson’s odds moved slightly to +230 from +170 over the last two weeks.
Houston’s Will Anderson is the current favorite to win NFL DPOY. (Getty Images)
What To Know: Watt opened the season with two sacks, four tackles, three tackles for loss and two QB hits in the Steelers’ win over the Falcons. He added 1.5 sacks, another tackle for loss and two more QB hits in Week 2. That start moved the 2021 Defensive Player of the Year’s odds to +550 from +1100. But after a somewhat quiet Week 3 where he assisted on one tackle, his odds moved back to +1100. Over the Steelers’ last three games, he has six total tackles and three sacks. His odds moved to +700 from +1100 over the last week.
What To Know: Fred Warner has 72 total tackles, including 33 solo in 2026. His most impressive game so far was in the 49ers’ Week 3 win over Arizona. In that game, he had 17 total tackles and seven solo. Warner has been named to the Pro Bowl four times in his career.
What to Know: Simmons is having an outstanding year so far and is climbing up the oddsboard. After eight weeks and after being acquired by Chicago from Tennessee, Simmons has 44 total tackles, 23 solo, five sacks and 6.5 stuffs.
What To Know: So far this year, Hutchinson has five sacks, 13 solo tackles and has assisted on eight. He also has five tackles for loss for the 5-2 Lions.
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