The NFL season has just about reached its midway point, and it is not too early to start thinking about candidates for various individual honors.

While many instinctively focus on the MVP award, some are also very interested in who will win this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

Last year, the winner of the award was the San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa, and the race wasn’t that close, as the only other real candidate was Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys, and he finished a distant second in the balloting.

This year, analyst Gregg Rosenthal feels eight men have a real shot at being the Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett, Parsons, Maxx Crosby, Roquan Smith, T.J. Watt, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Josh Allen, Dexter Lawrence, and Aaron Donald.

DPOY race after Week 9 is bananas. An incomplete list of players I'd consider for the 3-person ballot:

Garrett
Parsons
Maxx
Roquan
Watt
Josh Allen
Dexter Lawrence
Donald

— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) November 7, 2023

Right now, many seem to feel Parsons and possibly Garrett have the best shot at winning the award.

Parsons, through eight games, has 7.5 sacks, 17 quarterback hits, and 10 tackles for loss, and he has helped Dallas re-establish themselves as a strong defensive team after they gave up 42 points to the San Francisco 49ers a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Garrett has put up 9.5 sacks, 18 QB hits, and eight tackles for loss, and with his help, the Cleveland Browns are third in points given up and first in total yards allowed.

As a result, the Browns, who have been hit hard by injuries to key players, especially on offense, have a 5-3 record and a real shot at making the playoffs for only the third time since they began play again in the 1999 season.

The post NFL Analyst Highlights The Stacked DPOY Race This Season appeared first on The Cold Wire.