Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans is the favorite for NFL Defensive Player of the Year at +125, a 44.4% implied chance, and he leads the league with 7.5 sacks. T.J. Watt of Pittsburgh and Dallas Turner of Minnesota are next at +850 each, and Buffalo’s Greg Rousseau, second in sacks with 6.0, is +1000.
Defensive Player of the Year odds
The board below is DraftKings’ 2026 award market as ESPN carried it at 11:18 UTC on Saturday, October 17, 2026, during Week 6: Seattle and Denver played on Thursday, and the other games are on Sunday and Monday. When this page was last updated, from the board of September 24, Anderson led at +450, with Watt and Aidan Hutchinson at +550. The implied chance is what each price says a player’s chance is, before the sportsbook’s margin is taken out.
| Player | Team | Position | Odds | Implied chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will Anderson Jr. | Houston Texans | DE | +125 | 44.4% |
| T.J. Watt | Pittsburgh Steelers | LB | +850 | 10.5% |
| Dallas Turner | Minnesota Vikings | LB | +850 | 10.5% |
| Fred Warner | San Francisco 49ers | LB | +1000 | 9.1% |
| Greg Rousseau | Buffalo Bills | LB | +1000 | 9.1% |
| Aidan Hutchinson | Detroit Lions | DE | +1200 | 7.7% |
| Maxx Crosby | Las Vegas Raiders | DE | +2000 | 4.8% |
| Nik Bonitto | Denver Broncos | LB | +2800 | 3.4% |
| Abdul Carter | New York Giants | LB | +3000 | 3.2% |
| Danielle Hunter | Houston Texans | DE | +4000 | 2.4% |
| Josh Hines-Allen | Jacksonville Jaguars | DE | +4000 | 2.4% |
| Jalen Carter | Philadelphia Eagles | DT | +4000 | 2.4% |
These 12 names alone add up to 110.1%, and the full market lists 93 players, so the book’s margin is large. A futures bet is worth making only when you rate a player’s chance higher than the price does.
Who is producing so far
| Player | Sacks | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| Will Anderson Jr. | 7.5 | +125 |
| Greg Rousseau | 6.0 | +1000 |
| Dallas Turner | 5.5 | +850 |
| DJ Wonnum | 5.0 | not on the board |
| David Bailey | 5.0 | not on the board |
| T.J. Watt | 4.5 | +850 |
| Zach Allen | 4.5 | +10000 |
| Elijah Ponder | 4.5 | not on the board |
These are ESPN’s sack leaders as read at 11:22 UTC on October 17. In September the favorite’s price was built on expectation: Anderson was not among the ten sack leaders then. He leads the list now, and his price has shortened from +450 to +125. Hutchinson has 4.0 sacks and has drifted from +550 to +1200. Six players share the interception lead at three, and none of them is in the top 12 on the board.
Recent Defensive Player of the Year winners
| Season | Winner | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Myles Garrett | Cleveland Browns | DE |
| 2024 | Pat Surtain II | Denver Broncos | CB |
| 2023 | Myles Garrett | Cleveland Browns | DE |
| 2022 | Nick Bosa | San Francisco 49ers | DE |
| 2021 | T.J. Watt | Pittsburgh Steelers | LB |
| 2020 | Aaron Donald | Los Angeles Rams | DT |
| 2019 | Stephon Gilmore | New England Patriots | CB |
| 2018 | Aaron Donald | Los Angeles Rams | DT |
| 2017 | Aaron Donald | Los Angeles Rams | DT |
Seven of the last nine winners were pass rushers or interior linemen, and two were cornerbacks: Gilmore in 2019 and Surtain in 2024. Donald won three times and Garrett twice. Watt is the one winner from this table in the current top 12.
The season is 17 games long, and these totals come from the first five or six of them. We update this page as the race changes. Every award board is on our NFL awards odds page, the offensive award on our Offensive Player of the Year odds page and the top award on our NFL MVP odds page. Our picks for every Week 6 game are on the NFL predictions page.