Myles Garrett is challenging the way the NFL defines its most valuable player. In a conversation with Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons, the Browns star said the current MVP standard fails to capture what elite defenders contribute every week. Garrett, already a Defensive Player of the Year, framed the issue as his next career goal.
Myles Garrett and Micah Parsons Push Back On Quarterback-Driven MVP Logic
Appearing on Parsons’ podcast The Edge, Garrett discussed how award categories have become segmented, with defenders limited to the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. Both Garrett and Parsons questioned whether the MVP vote still measures overall value or simply offensive production that is easiest to see.
Garrett explained his frustration with how the conversation is framed.
“They are saying a defensive player can’t win MVP. We don’t effect winning enough, so that’s the next mission. That’s all I’m thinking of,” Garrett said. “I feel like QBs have MVP on lock because they have the ball in their hand pretty much every play. But we’re not taking into account the things that we do on defense that change games just as much.”
There sat two of the league’s best pass rushers. Both are complete masters of their craft. Parsons pointed to recent postseason results that did not require big passing totals to win.
“You tell me one of these games in the playoffs. We just saw a quarterback win with 83 passing yards. So should this ultimately be like, hey, it’s no shot, but can we say they deserve to be MVP? It feels like the standard keeps moving for everybody except quarterbacks.”
As the two continued to agree, Garrett added that defensive production is often obscured by advanced metrics that casual viewers do not see.
“It’s too easily handed to them. A lot of the numbers we have, you have to go to advanced metrics to see how good you are. To the casual guy just looking at the scoreboard, he’s like Sam Darnold threw for four touchdowns, he’s got to be MVP. Micah had 10 pressures and lost three rushes all day, and that’s incredible, but that’s not as easily seen as touchdowns or yards.”
The debate comes after another season in which the MVP race centered on quarterbacks from start to finish. A defensive player has not won the award since 1986, a stretch that Garrett and Parsons said shapes how voters evaluate value before the season even begins.
Garrett’s comments follow a historic season in Cleveland in which he broke the all-time sack record. His 23 quarterback takedowns made him the runaway Defensive Player of the Year.
Despite Garrett’s domination, the Browns finished 5-12 and fired their head coach, Kevin Stefanski. If anyone can rewrite the history books again, it’s Garrett. But for him to ever be a legitimate MVP candidate, the Browns must at least make the playoffs first.
As Garrett and Parsons said, there is only so much one defender can control in the game of football.
