The first 11 players on ESPN’s MVP ranking are on offense, AFC North edge rushers break that streak

The Cleveland Browns had a terrible season in 2024 but there were some positives starting with DE Myles Garrett. WR Jerry Jeudy put his name among the team’s legendary history but it was Garrett who was consistently making plays all season despite dealing with many injuries.

Garrett also stirred the pot with comments late in the season about not wanting to rebuild but, following the season, seems locked back into his future with the Browns. A projected record-setting contract probably helps a little bit in keeping the star defender’s future with Cleveland.

While Josh Allen versus Lamar Jackson for MVP has been the real race most of the second half of the season, it is interesting how few defenders ever get mentioned for the award at this point. In ESPN’s final “Top 100 real NFL MVP candidates for 2024 season” (subscriber, $), the first seven players are quarterbacks, with Allen ahead of Jackson, and WRs Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson break that streak at eight and nine.

After two more quarterbacks are added to the list, we get the first defenders with Trey Hendrickson ranked just ahead of Garrett:

Hendrickson demonstrated clear value with his league-leading 17.5 sacks, 3.5 more than second-place Myles Garrett. But Hendrickson also ranked second in pass rush wins (73), third in pass rush win rate (24%), first in pressures (65) and third in pressure rate (15%). He also had an extraordinary 26.0 sacks created, a metric that awards the player who first beats their blocker on a play that ends in a sack (as opposed to whoever finishes the play). Sacks created is not a perfect metric, but it highlights how much the Bengals’ defense struggled, making Hendrickson’s season even more impressive.

Having the best defenders in the league ranked 12 and 13 respectively shows how little care is given to the defense when the MVP award is discussed. The other star AFC North edge rusher, T.J. Watt, is outside of the Top 25 (27th) behind six defenders on the list.

No other Browns player made the list while the Baltimore Ravens had seven in the top 100, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals had three each.