The NFL Defensive Player of the Year award is one of the few ways defense is celebrated in today’s NFL. With rules continuing to be bent in the favor of offenses, this is one of the only avenues for defense to be encouraged. And in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year betting markets, bettors can often find value betting on who will win this award that supports the stifling of opposing offenses.
This award has largely been passed around by defensive linemen in recent years, with defensive linemen winning it eight out of the last 10 years. If you count T.J. Watt as a defensive linemen, it is nine out of 10. Of course, five of those combined awards went to Aaron Donald and J.J. Watt. But the ability to make plays up front has been rewarded handsomely in this market in recent seasons.
That brings us to the betting odds for this year’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year:
2024 NFL Defensive Player Of The Year Odds
| Player | Defensive Player of the Year Odds |
| TJ Watt | -200 |
| Chris Jones | +1000 |
| Nick Bosa | +1400 |
| Dexter Lawrence | +1600 |
| Trey Hendrickson | +1600 |
| Will Anderson Jr. | +2000 |
TJ Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers
TJ Watt was healthy for the most part last season after his 2022 campaign was cut short due to injury. Watt has been healthy throughout the 2024 season for the Steelers, whose defense has been excellent to help ease the transition for Justin Fields and Russell Wilson in their first years as the quarterbacks for this team. So far this season, Watt has been a menace in opposing backfields as usual, making him the odds-on favorite for DPOY.
Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs
Put simply, Chris Jones wrecks the plays that opposing teams are trying to make. Jones can line up all over the defensive line of the Chiefs to make things happen. He is in the race for Defensive Player of the Year despite the fact that he only has a handful of sacks to this point in the year. He probably needs to put together some bigger statistical performances late in the season to be considered for this award on the level that Watt is being considered, but Jones isn’t totally out of things yet either.
Nick Bosa, San Francisco 49ers
Nick Bosa is back on the field for the San Francisco 49ers, who have needed their defense more than ever thanks to injuries to weapons like Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel on offense for portions of this year. Bosa has already racked up a nice collection of sacks on the year and is looking like the player the Niners expected him to be, as he is now in firm contention to win this award.
2024 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Prediction
The unfortunate nature of this award is that pass rushers are always going to have the advantage over players at other positions unless a defensive back puts up an insane number of interceptions. We will back another pass rusher to win this award this season, as we will take TJ Watt to win this award in what should be a very entertaining race between at least five or six pass rushers in 2024.
