Newsletter: Denzel Ward, Myles Garrett, and Team Success Driving Awards

Despite the lack of team success, the veteran duo is still at the top of their craft.

(Photo - Cleveland Browns)

Whether fair or not, the NFL’s offseason awards, and All-Pro lists, are filled with players whose teams win. That should make sense given great players help drive team success, but there are occasions where a sport driven by the contributions of 22 players on each side of the ball impact outcomes.

The thought got into my head after the TNF win if there was still a world where Myles Garrett could win Defensive Player of the Year despite the poor team success. I get into thinking about those things with Garrett and Denzel Ward because both have been special for a large part of the season and there do not seem to be players running away with those awards this year through 12 weeks as we saw during last season’s race.

For the season Garrett has 52 total pressure (t4th in the NFL) and the league’s highest pressure percentage. He is also t3rd in sacks with 10. Those numbers tell us Garrett can win the award. But the Browns are 3-8 and others around the race for the award are mostly in winning situations this year.

T.J. Watt, the betting favorite for the award as of this week, only has 29 pressures for the entire season despite 80 more pass rush snaps. In fact, if you google some of the latest odds in betting markets for the award, you won’t find Garrett’s name even listed. Fan Duel is one of the few with his name even posted.