The Falcoholic midseason awards: Defensive Player of the Year

We had multiple players to choose from on offense, but our midseason Defensive Player of the Year award was a clear-cut choice. Grady Jarrett got the unanimous nod from our staff.

This defense has been putrid, but Jarrett hasn’t. We thank him for giving us something to appreciate about this season.

Grady Jarrett is a Greek hero

All those old epics seemed to have a hero of impossible strength and virtue who was undone but circumstances beyond his control, and boy does that describe Jarrett’s 2019. On a better line with a much better secondary behind him, Jarrett would probably be getting huge buzz for the number of timely run stops and sacks he would be putting up, but he’s had to settle for just being far and away the best player on that defensive line. He’s truly great, and I hope he gets to play with a great defense someday. - Dave Choate

Grady Jarrett because the rest of this defense is trash

Jarrett is consistently one of the top players at his position, meaning he would always be in this discussion. This year, I can’t even think of an honorable mention. Kendall Sheffield hasn’t been bad? Jarrett is basically the entire defense at this point, leading the team in sacks and acts as the only playmaker. Honestly, he’s so good that it makes you feel bad that he has to play with the rest of these awful defenders. - Matt Chambers

Grady Jarrett, a man alone

There’s really no other answer. This defense is completely nauseating, but Grady Jarrett stands out as the lone member who actually gets it done on game day. He’s just as disruptive as he’s been his entire NFL career, and it’s embarrassing that the Falcons are wasting his elite level of play on this disaster of a unit. - Carter Breazeale

Grady Jarrett is the correct answer

As much as I’d like to highlight another defensive player and present this answer from a different point of view, I truly can’t come up with anyone who’s performed at a level which is even close to Jarrett’s. He’s been a wrecking crew on the interior part of the defensive line, even though the Falcons’ defense has been toothless everywhere else. Jarrett is more than justifying that massive contract extension the Falcons gave him this past offseason, and hopefully he has better running mates on defense next year. - Adnan Ikic

There is only one answer, and it is Grady Jarrett

I can see there’s plenty of consensus among The Falcoholic staff about this one, but it really is obvious. On a defense that has been arguably the worst in the NFL in 2019—rivaling even the tanking Dolphins, who have traded away most of their good players—Grady Jarrett continues to stand out. In only 8 games, Jarrett has 44 (!!) total tackles, 3.0 sacks, 6 TFL, 7 QB hits, and 2 forced fumbles. For reference, Jarrett has twice as many sacks as any other Falcons player, is second on the team in QB hits and TFL, and is third in total tackles. He’s on track to tie his career mark for sacks (6.0), blow past his best tackling season (previous high was 55, in 2017), and have his second-best season in terms in TFL (15, 2017) and QB hits (16, 2018). We desperately need to get this man some help, because he can be a true anchor when surrounded with adequate talent. - Kevin Knight