It's only right that a member of the Houston Texans defense, which was arguably the league's best throughout the 2025 NFL season, has a seat at the table when the league's Defensive Player of the Year is named at the NFL Honors ceremony on February 5th. The more interesting question would be which Texans defender was most deserving of that distinction.
While you could make a reasonably compelling case for guys like Derek Stingley Jr., Danielle Hunter or even someone like Jalen Pitre, the somewhat obvious answer is All-Pro edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., who was named one of the five finalists for the award, along with Myles Garrett, Nik Bonnito, Aidan Hutchinson and Micah Parsons.
Anderson, who is in just his 3rd NFL season, has quickly proven to be one of the league's most dominant and disruptive defensive players, and this season he took his game up a level. For my money, the Texans superstar was the second-best defensive player in the league this year behind only Myles Garrett, who set the single-season NFL record for sacks in the final game of the 2025 campaign. On a down to down basis, you won't find another player who was as impactful as Will Anderson Jr., and the numbers agree.
Will Anderson Jr. finished the 2025 season with career-highs in tackles (54), sacks (12), tackles for loss (20), forced fumbles (3), and passes defended (3). For good measure, he added one defensive touchdown and 85 quarterback pressures, which were the second-most in the NFL according to Next Gen Stats. Additionally, Anderson eclipsed the 30 career sack mark, which makes him just one of 26 players in league history with at least 30 sacks in his first three NFL seasons.
But this isn't an award that should be based on the numbers alone. The eye-test should be just as big a part of the calculus to determine who the league's Defensive Player of the Year is, and in that regard, the only thing more impressive than Anderson's numbers is his sizzle reel.
By season's end, Will Anderson Jr. came to embody the Houston Texans' Swarm mentality. Across the entire National Football League, nobody plays as relentlessly as Anderson, and nobody on the Texans defense has bought in to the idea of Swarm quite like he has.
“Man, our brand of ball is just one word, and that’s, Swarm,”Anderson said of Houston's mantra back in December. “That's it. Swarm when everything else fails, when everything goes south, whatever may happen, good or bad. Everybody just swarming. We've been brainwashed in swarm. It's in everybody's head. You step on that field, you swarming no matter who you are."
Truth be told, this is arguably the greatest testament to Will Anderson Jr.'s dominance throughout the season and the strongest case you could make for his candidacy for Defensive Player of the Year. The engine, the heartbeat and the most talented player on the league's best defense is an emerging 24-year-old mega star whose best days are ahead of him. He may not get the nod this year, but in time, Anderson should soon be adding some hardware to a trophy room that already includes an assortment of awards that prove he's one of the best defensive players ever at the college level.