Patrick Surtain II of the Denver Broncos won the most recent AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award, for the 2024 season, announced at NFL Honors in February 2025.

Quick Scoop: Who won DPOY in the NFL?

If you’re searching “who won dpoy nfl” right now, you’re almost certainly bumping into the latest completed season’s award.

  • The current AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year is Patrick Surtain II (CB, Denver Broncos) for the 2024 season.
  • The award was presented at the annual NFL Honors show held just before the Super Bowl.
  • Surtain became the first cornerback in five years to take home the award, breaking a recent run dominated by pass rushers.

Why Surtain II won

  • He shadowed top receivers all year and consistently erased No. 1 options in man coverage.
  • Advanced metrics and film both loved his work: he allowed extremely low production in matchups vs stars like Ja’Marr Chase and DK Metcalf.
  • Voters highlighted that his impact went beyond stats, changing how offenses called plays against Denver.

Recent DPOY timeline (context)

To place this in context of recent years, here’s a quick look at the last few AP DPOY winners:

Season| Winner| Position| Team
---|---|---|---
2024| Patrick Surtain II| CB| Denver Broncos
2023| Myles Garrett| DE| Cleveland Browns
2022| Nick Bosa| DE| San Francisco 49ers
2021| T.J. Watt| Edge| Pittsburgh Steelers

Forum / “trending topic” angle

On forums and social feeds, the DPOY talk has circled around a few themes:

  • Some fans argued a pass rusher with gaudier sack numbers “should always” win, saying corners don’t show up enough on the stat sheet.
  • Others pushed back, pointing out lockdown corners erase targets, which means fewer stats but massive hidden value.
  • There’s also ongoing speculation that Myles Garrett could reclaim or add more DPOYs, especially after record-level sack seasons being discussed for future years.

“Corners never get love for DPOY unless they’re absolutely unreal. This year, Surtain basically forced offenses to play 10-on-10 on his side.” (Paraphrasing common forum sentiment)

If you meant a different “who won DPOY”

The phrase “who won dpoy nfl” can also refer to:

  • A specific past season (like 2023 – Myles Garrett).
  • A betting or odds discussion for an ongoing season (where books often list favorites like Garrett or other edge rushers).

If you tell me the exact season you care about (e.g., “who won DPOY 2021” or “who’s leading DPOY this year”), I can zoom in with that specific answer. TL;DR: The latest AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year is Patrick Surtain II, CB, Denver Broncos, for the 2024 season.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.