There's no shortage of offseason NFL betting odds to focus on at FanDuel Sportsbook.

There are NFL division winner odds, NFL win totals, NFL season awards, and plenty more.

One of the season awards that jumps out is for the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year betting market.

But what has it taken to win the award recently?

We'll look at trends since 1971 when the award started but also since 1994 when tackles were tracked consistently.

NFL Defensive Player of the Year Trends

Here's a breakdown of winners by position since 1971.

Some notable trends since 2000:

• The more recent awards still feature a pretty similar breakdown.
• The defensive tackle win rate since 2000 dropped from 19.2% overall to 13.0% (with all three awards going to Aaron Donald).
• Linebackers and defensive ends have accounted for 59.6% of overall wins and 65.2% of wins since 2000.

Defensive Player of the Year Stat Breakdowns

Here are some notes on how players fared in key defensive stats within their own position during the year of their win. All stats below are since 1994.

• When compared to the rest of their position, Defensive Player of the Year winners have ranked, on average:
  • 19.7 in tackles
  • 10.1 in interceptions
  • 12.2 in sacks
• By position, here is how winners' stat lines have averaged for a 17-game pace:
  • Linebacker:
    • 10.1 sacks, 123.0 tackles, 2.7 interceptions, 3.1 forced fumbles, 0.6 defensive touchdowns
  • Defensive end:
    • 18.1 sacks, 74.4 tackles, 0.5 interceptions, 5.0 forced fumbles, 0.7 defensive touchdowns
  • Defensive tackle:
    • 16.0 sacks, 54.5 tackles, 0.0 interceptions, 4.4 forced fumbles, 0.0 defensive touchdowns
  • Cornerback:
    • 0.7 sacks, 60.2 tackles, 7.8 interceptions, 1.5 forced fumbles, 3.0 defensive touchdowns
  • Safety
    • 2.5 sacks, 89.9 tackles, 6.8 interceptions, 1.5 forced fumbles, 1.1 defensive touchdowns

Takeaways

As expected, productivity is crucial in order for players to bring home the hardware, but that's especially true with havoc stats such as interceptions and sacks.

Seven of the 29 sack leaders since 1994 won the award, a 24.1% win rate before accounting for any other productivity.

Interceptions and defensive touchdowns are essentially a must for cornerbacks and safeties to win. Since 1994, just one defensive back won the award without a defensive score: Bob Sanders in 2007, when he had just two interceptions but led all safeties in tackles (97) and was 40th in the NFL in tackles overall.

Of the six defensive backs since 1994 who have won, more of them had multiple scores (four) than zero or one score (two).

The overall trends say to target linebackers and defensive ends, especially since the 2000 season.

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