NFL Defensive Player of the Year Odds 2026 | DPOY Futures

The NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award is given to the player who produces the best season on the defensive side of the football. Below is a list of the latest betting odds for the 2026-27 NFL Defensive Player of the Year winner.

2026-27 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award Winner Odds

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2026-27 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Contenders

Current Best Bet: Will Anderson Jr. (LB, Texans)

Will Anderson Jr. remains the best bet for DPOY entering Week 6. He’s piled up 7.5 sacks and 27 tackles through five games and still sits as the odds-on favorite at +275, well clear of T.J. Watt (+700) and Dallas Turner (+750) — and he’s doing it on a standalone basis, since the Texans have stumbled to 1-4 and last in the AFC South, which only underscores how much of Houston’s defensive identity runs through him. PFF already had him graded as the No. 1 edge defender in the league for both pass rush and run defense before Week 4, and the individual numbers have only built on that since, so there’s no reason to fade him even with the win-loss record ugly around him.

T.J. Watt (LB, Steelers)

• Season Stats: 13 tackles, 4.5 sacks, FF, FR, INT, TD

Fred Warner (LB, 49ers)

• Season Stats: 50 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 3 FF, 3 PD

Will Anderson Jr. (DE, Texans)

• Season Stats: 27 tackles, 7.5 sacks, FF, FR, PD

2026-27 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Sleepers

Greg Rousseau and Andrew Van Ginkel are the DPOY sleepers to watch entering Week 6. Rousseau has been part of the league’s best pass rush all season — 6.0 sacks and 3 forced fumbles through five games — and the Bills have ridden it to a 4-1 start, including last week’s overtime win over the Rams; he’s sitting at +1400, buried behind Will Anderson Jr. and T.J. Watt, but the sack total is right there with the favorites.

Van Ginkel’s case is quieter but arguably more complete: 4 sacks, 14 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble through five starts for a Vikings defense that’s helped carry Minnesota to an unbeaten record at 5-0. He’s not even priced in most DPOY boards right now, which is exactly what makes him a sleeper — a versatile, winning-defense difference-maker who’s outside the sportsbooks’ radar while the record in front of him keeps climbing.

Greg Rousseau (LB, Bills)

• Season Stats: 20 tackles, 6 sacks, 3 FF, 3 PD

Andrew Van Ginkel (LB, Vikings)

• Season Stats: 14 tackles, 4 sacks, FF, FR, INT

NFL Defensive Player of the Year Past Winners

Here is a list of the past NFL Defensive Player of the Year winners.

• 2025 – Myles Garrett (DE, CLE)
• 2024 – Patrick Surtain II (CB, DEN)
• 2023 – Myles Garrett (DE, CLE)
• 2022 – Nick Bosa (DE, SFO)
• 2021 – T.J. Watt (LB, PIT)
• 2020 – Aaron Donald (DT, LAR)
• 2019 – Stephon Gilmore (CB, NWE)
• 2018 – Aaron Donald (DT, LAR)
• 2017 – Aaron Donald (DT, LAR)
• 2016 – Khalil Mack (LB, OAK)
• 2015 – J.J. Watt (DE, HOU)