Broncos’ Patrick Surtain II makes DPOY declaration to Myles Garrett

The Denver Broncos have one of the best defenses in all of football, and a lot of that comes down to having elite personnel at all three levels.

While there are a lot of talented players on this Denver defense, none are better than star cornerback Patrick Surtain II. The Alabama product is still arguably the best cornerback in football, even after an injury-riddled 2025 that saw him struggle with a pec injury late in the year.

Still, the 2024 season showed that Surtain can be the best of the best on the defensive side of the ball. He was given the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2024 for his performance, sandwiching him in between two epic Myles Garrett DPOY seasons in 2023 and 2025.

On Tuesday, after Garrett was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, Surtain was asked about continuing that pattern and taking the DPOY back from Garrett in 2026, via Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette.

“Why not?” Surtain wondered aloud. “Shoot. Let’s just keep going, me and him back and forth.”

Surtain was phenomenal during that 2024 season, picking off four passes and finishing with 11 pass breakups in 16 games. He also had elite advanced numbers on a very good Broncos defense, which helped him win the award even as a cornerback.

Simply put, it’s going to be very hard for Surtain to win another Defensive Player of the Year award. Cornerbacks almost never win DPOY awards, in large part because it’s harder for them to rack up counting stats and they aren’t involved in every single play like players in the front seven are. Opposing offenses also avoid Surtain on a regular basis now in the passing game.

On the other side, it’s just going to be very hard to beat a healthy Garrett in the Defensive Player of the Year race this season. He will still have chances to get after the passer and will have a big workload, but now he will be leading what should be an elite Rams defense. Still, Surtain is aiming big and is ready for another elite season in 2026 for the Broncos.

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