Who do you think deserves the Defensive Player of the Year award?
 

I was watching NFL Live earlier and they discussed this today. There are some very deserving candidates this year and it got me wondering which one I think deserves it most..

They had four guys that they narrowed the voting down to (Sherman, Kuechly, Mathis and Quinn) with three additional honorable mentions (Bowman, Watt, and Thomas) so I'll stick to having those guys on the poll.

Quinn or Sherman

Luke Kuechly

Luke Keuchly: 156 tackles, 2.0 sacks, and 4 INTs.

Richard Sherman: (League-leading) 8 INTs, 16 passes defensed and 1 TD.

Navorro Bowman: 145 tackles, 5.0 sacks, 2 INTs, 4 FFs and 1 TD.

Robert Mathis: (League-leading) 19.5 sacks, 8 FFs and 1 safety.

Robert Quinn: 19.0 sacks, (league-leading) 23 TFL and 7 FFs.

Earl Thomas: 105 tackles, 9 passes defensed, 5 INTs and 2 FFs.

JJ Watt: 10.5 sacks, 22 TFL, 7 passes defensed and 4 FFs.

I could see an argument for anyone of them. Although the argument for Watt would be the weakest given the dip his stats took, that can most likely be attributed to his shitty team. They barely ever had a lead this season so his opportunities for sacks and passes defensed were probably considerably less numerous..

If forced to choose, I'd say Mathis.

It's hard to pick between Bowman, Mathis or Quinn. Keuchly is up there as well.

Bowman, he needs a consolation prize for blowing up his knee anyway.

i wish we had a safety like Earl Thomas holy **** at those stats

Yeah...it'd be nice to have a DC use our top 5 safety like he should be. Instead we have a $11 million/year glorified LB.

I think I remember hearing that a safety having 100+ tackles as well as 5+ INTs in a season has either never happened before or only a handful of times at the most. Impressive for sure..

But in fairness to Berry, he and Thomas are used in completely different ways. Berry is basically used the same way Kam Chancellor is in Seattle so it would be more appropriate to compare those two.

Luke QB'd his defense and made the calls in many situations. I'll take him. He gave Brady fists.

Kendick Lewis had a year nobody will ever forget-he should get some kind of award.

I'd give it to Quinn or Mathis.

He has to be a shoo-in for offensive player of the year

Lately you always look at the sack leader first. But not because of sympathy for injury but for his play I have to say Bowman. He just seems like he does everything great.

Quinn was easily the most disruptive player this season. Fastest first step in the league. If you were going with the LBs, Bowman would have to be over Kuechly. Sherman is the best CB in the league right now and it's not even close; the amazing thing is he's been this good since his rookie year. JJ Watt, only reason why his name is up there is because he won it last year; nowhere near as good as all of these other players this year.

Peyton manning.

Those are basically Jarius Byrds averages and he is available in FA.

In 5 years, he has

22picks
11 forced fumbles
5 recovered fumbles
33 pass defenses
409 return yards
2 defensive scores.

I know he is gonna be pricey, but that guy is a flat out game changer worth the extra money. It's too bad we can't afford him.

I might be the only one who thinks Keuchly is overrated. He's sideline to sideline but tons of his tackles are made 10 yards down field.

Godamn Kuechly was stolen from me right before my eyes! :(

That said, I'd still love to have him next to DJ. During the draft, I REALLY wanted Keuchly, but I"m really happy with Poe too, and he plays a more important position on defense.

Hey don't get me wrong, I'd take him in a minute.

But he's not even close as the best ILB in football, IMO.

Eh, he was the unquestioned leader on possibly the best defense in the league.

He's really, really good in coverage too.

Its closer than you think at Corner.

Joe Haden shuts down everyone without the benefit of having all pros SURROUND HIM.

For me, it has to be bowman. Seeing Quinn blow up like that is amazing. Im a tarheel guy, and he was the guy I wanted over Aldon Smith. Both are amazing. But, Robert Quinn is the purest pass rusher I have seen since Reggie White.

I agree with you. He also like Sherman, ( I love Sherman don't get me wrong) is helped by the surrounding players. It can be argued that he wasn't even the best linebacker on his team this year, that would be Thomas Davis.

You're really lambasting a couple guys that are possibly the best individual players on their defense because they happen to play for top defensive units... while hyping up Navorro Bowman? He is literally in the same exact position as them..

Touche. that's called situational bias, and you are right.

Well at least on Sherman. but like I said. kuechly if you ask around might not of been better than Thomas Davis.

Depending on who you ask, Earl Thomas may of been better than Sherman, but no one would say that anyone was better than bowman.

But, you are absolutely correct. Im a BOWMAN guy, so I lean that way.

Good call. And no, im not being a dick, arrogant, or sarcastic. I just hadn't thought of it the way you said.

Yep, that was my first thought as well, but...it has to be Quinn.

I feels you, man. I ain't even trippin. Just wanted you to see your bias.

Any way you can work Josh Gordon into this discussion? Heh.

LOL. Other than the fact that I feel horrible for the guy?

No, no not so much haha.

Sherman shuts down his side of the field and routinely baits Qbs into throwing at him which is the reason why he is always near the tops in the league in INTs. He intentionally gives QBs looks that they like and then uses his athletic ability to take it away at the last second. No one in the league does that better than he does; Not Revis, not Haden, not Peterson (I don't really consider him among the best corners but other people do for some odd reason), not anyone. And on top of that, he can stick his man and shut down the league's best receivers; he is unquestionably the best defender of the fade route in the NFL. It really isn't close at all.

As far as Quinn vs Aldon Smith goes, they each have different things going for them. Quinn is one of the best speed rushers in the NFL while Aldon uses a combination of strength and speed to win his battles. I wonder if Aldon would be as successful without Justin Smith tying up blockers for him. I think that without Justin Smith, Aldon Smith is a 10-12 sacks a year kind of guy at this point in his career, he's definitely on the upswing though.

Quinn was outstanding this year. What a season he had-just consistently beat everyone he faced- clinical!

Mathis has made a ton of game changing strip sacks throughout his Colts career and broke the all time record this year. The one vs Peyton was tremendous. I'd go with Mathis but I'm a homer.

Mathis

Damn you Eric Berry! Only getting 74 tackles, 3 Ints, 1 FF, 3.5 sacks and 2 tds.....