SAN FRANCISCO — It took Myles Garrett a little while to break through and win an NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
Now he has two.
Garrett, who won DPOY two years ago, won the league’s top defensive prize again when the NFL’s season awards were announced at the league’s NFL Honors show on Thursday night. Garrett’s award was presented by Michael Strahan, who said Garrett won unanimously. Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans finished second according to Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press.
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“I’m thankful for every one of my teammates who helped me get up here,” Garrett, wearing a black cowboy hat at the show, said as he was presented the award.
Garrett, the Cleveland Browns’ star defensive end, was an easy pick. He set an NFL record with 23 sacks this season. He has 125.5 sacks in his nine NFL season and just turned 30 years old, meaning he could enter the top-five all-time list in career sacks (Chris Doleman is fifth with 150.5) within the next two seasons.
The rest of the annual awards from the NFL Honors show will be updated as they’re announced on Thursday night:
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Offensive Rookie of the Year: Carolina Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan
McMillan, the eighth pick of last year’s NFL Draft, had a consistent, productive season for a Panthers team that won the NFC South. McMillan had 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. McMillan beat out Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson, Saints QB Tyler Shough, Giants QB Jaxson Dart and Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka, who were the other finalists.
“To me the most humbling part of this is I know I could have never done this by myself,” McMillan said as he was presented the award. “I’m just so grateful and so blessed.”
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McMillan got 41 of 50 first-place votes, easily outpacing Shough who finished second and had five first-place votes according to the AP.
Protector of the Year: Chicago Bears G Joe Thuney
This is a new award to recognize offensive linemen, and the first winner of it was Thuney, the versatile guard who was in his first season with the Bears after four stellar seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. Thuney has been in the NFL for 10 seasons, and he has been a Pro Bowler each of the past four seasons.
