NFL Defensive Player Of Year Candidates

  • last year
Transcript
00:00 Duran Bland set the NFL record for most pick sixes in a season last weekend on Thanksgiving.
00:06 Who do you think is defensive player of the year? Because Bland has been,
00:13 his name has been thrown in there. Yeah, it's pretty traditional in the NFL now for not only
00:19 the MVP to be the quarterback of somebody, that's pretty much 20-year running with Adrian Peterson
00:25 interrupting it once. On defense, it's guys who get sacks. Yeah. And that's the glamour,
00:31 that's the glamour thing on defense. It's not going to be something you get. But what about
00:33 guys who get pick sixes? Yeah. That's pretty glamorous. Right. And the reason that there's
00:38 not very much precedent for that is because nobody's done this. Not like him. There is
00:44 certainly a movement. Darius Slay, who has been a five-time pro bowler, knows his way around,
00:51 and he plays for the Eagles, so he has no reason to be favorite towards the Cowboys. He says it's a
00:56 no-brainer that Duran Bland needs to be defensive player of the year. Even LeBron James thinks it.
01:03 And you know what else? Micah Parsons thinks it. And two months ago... And Micah wants that for
01:08 himself. Right. Two months ago, Micah Parsons thought he should win defensive player of the
01:11 year, and so now he's throwing a lot of his support behind Bland. And you've talked to him a lot,
01:16 we've talked to him. The way he carries himself. The preparedness, the humble. Right. And quiet.
01:24 Not that Micah Parsons isn't prepared and humble, but he's not quiet. No. And so Bland has his own
01:32 personal style, and it doesn't include a lot of showboating or a lot of thumping of his own chest.
01:38 He does, however, have a plan, in addition to wanting to help this team to a Super Bowl,
01:42 which he put into words the other day. He's going to have to build a trophy case at his house.
01:46 He has kept all the balls, and I think they're just boxed up somewhere. They're probably boxed
01:52 up somewhere here in the building. If he's smart, he won't have just kept all the balls from his
01:57 pick sixes, but in the last year and a half, he's the number one interceptor in the NFL. So
02:03 there might not be a trophy case, it might have to be a trophy room that he builds eventually.
02:08 And then one fun thing to think about going forward, next year, Trayvon Diggs will be here,
02:12 and be back and be healthy. Wow. Dangerous duo. Right. And forget about, for the moment,
02:18 contractually with this guy, just talk about the talent. Gilmore, this is his final year of his
02:22 contract, doesn't mean he can't come back. But the starting cornerback tandem of Bland,
02:27 who I don't think is moving into the slot again anytime soon. That wouldn't seem to be advisable.
02:32 Bland and Diggs, I don't know if they're the best cornerback duo. I don't know. But because that's
02:40 hard to measure. Yeah. But as far as being... Well, we haven't seen them together yet. That's true.
02:45 But as far as being the best playmaking duo, the numbers would suggest nobody does what they're
02:53 poised to do next year. And for now, Gilmore and Bland, pretty good. And nobody has done what
02:59 Bland has done individually. And so yes, that's an excellent pick. You can go to like Miles Garrett
03:06 in Cleveland. You can go to Watt in Pittsburgh. But as Slay said the other day, wake me up when
03:13 those guys get 25 sacks. Because getting 18 sacks or whatever, people do it all the time.
03:18 But what Bland... Not an NFL record. Nobody's ever done what Bland has done. If you're ever
03:23 going to give him props in terms of a big trophy, this is the time, this is the place,
03:28 and De'Ron Bland is the guy. Would be very deserved, that's for sure.
03:32 [BLANK_AUDIO]