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SAN FRANCISCO — Cooper DeJean shook his head, grinned and exhaled as he considered the question.
“What would it take for a defensive player to win Super Bowl MVP?”
“It’d take a lot,” the second-year Philadelphia Eagles safety said after Sunday’s Pro Bowl practice. “A lot — probably take a touchdown and a lot of tackles to win Super Bowl MVP. Maybe more than one interception, too. I guess if you’re a defensive lineman, a lot of sacks. It’d be tough.”
Posed the same question, New York Giants defensive end Brian Burns chuckled.
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“Oooh boy, it takes a huge game from a defensive player to win that,” he said, then using linebacker Will Anderson Jr.’s three-sack, two-forced fumble performance in the Houston Texans’ divisional-round loss to the New England Patriots as an example of the kind of dominant production needed to earn an individual game MVP award.
Defense might win championships, but offensive players — most often quarterbacks — win Super Bowl MVP. Denver Broncos edge rusher Von Miller was the last defensive player to earn the honor, securing it with 2.5 sacks, two quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, one tipped pass and a six total tackles as the Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers in 2016 to win Super Bowl 50.
Miller is one of just nine defensive players to win the award in 59 Super Bowls. One special teamer — kick returner Desmond Howard in Super Bowl XXXI — won it. But the other 50 honorees have been offensive players.
“Von was incredible that game,” said Broncos defensive end Zach Allen, who arrived in Denver seven years after Miller got the award. “I think it takes probably either a touchdown or a turnover to get [MVP], to have that much of an impact on the game defensively. But especially being in Denver, just hearing how people talk about that performance for Von, it’s incredible, and it’s definitely gotta be a great effort. We’ll see when it gets done again, if it ever does get done again. The quarterback play in this league has been so good.”
Von Miller finished Super Bowl 50 with 2.5 sacks, two quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, one tipped pass and a six total tackles. Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire
In the decade since Miller was named Super Bowl MVP, seven quarterbacks and two wide receivers have won the award. Tom Brady was named MVP twice, once with the Patriots and once with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes earned it three times and Eagles quarterback Nick Foles won it in Super Bowl LII. Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman was tabbed MVP for LIII, and Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp won it for LVI.
“It’s a quarterback show,” said Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, explaining the lack of defensive representation. “They’re throwing the ball a hundred times a game, and when you’re playing, especially on the defensive side, maybe we get a sack or two in the game. And sometimes we may not even get a sack, but we could dominate the game and sometimes we can get overlooked.”
This year’s Super Bowl between the Seattle Seahawks and Patriots (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, NBC) — which happens to be played at the same stadium where Miller won his award — features two top-flight defenses, and it could break the drought of defensive MVP winners.
“We got a lot of dogs on our defensive side of the ball,” said Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams, who added it would take a “special” performance by a defender to get MVP consideration. “We’re going to try to make some plays, and if we get an opportunity, we’re definitely going to try to score.”
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Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, said he thinks the race is wide open, but acknowledged the Seahawks, who had the top scoring defense in the regular season, and the Patriots, who have the No. 1 scoring defense in the postseason, each have stout defensive units.
“They’ve got really good defensive coaches on both sides of the ball,” Hurts told ESPN on Sunday. “Seahawks have a really good defense. They’ve been tried and tested, and they always respond well to adversity. Then on the other side, man, Patriots got a really good group mixed with young and old. Coach [Mike] Vrabel is doing a really good job and how he’s led that team, and so got a lot of respect for both teams.”
Simmons saw Vrabel’s prowess as a defensive coach up close when the now-Patriots coach led the Titans for the first five seasons of Simmons’ career.
“I’m pulling for the Patriots,” said Simmons, who was also teammates with linebacker Harold Landry III in Tennessee. “I could see one of their defense linemen getting MVP. I’m calling for Harold Landry. Hopefully he’s back this week, calling for three sacks. Maybe he could get MVP of the game.”
But for Landry — or any other defensive player — to win the award is an uphill battle.
Quarterback Joe Flacco, who was the MVP for Super Bowl XLVII as he threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns in a win against the San Francisco 49ers, acknowledged there’s quarterback bias in the award.
“At this point, if the quarterback has a good game, he’s probably going to be named the MVP,” Flacco said Monday. “So it’s going to take probably a guy affecting the game with three sacks and probably has to cause a fumble on one of those. Or a guy that gets two interceptions or a pick-six plus something else, plus a good game.
“I do think it’s possible, but I think we’re looking for reasons to give it to the quarterback just like we are most things.”
Malcolm Smith won the Super Bowl XLVIII MVP, as the Seahawks beat the Broncos. Focus on Sport/Getty Images
The year after Flacco won MVP, Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith got the nod as the Seahawks and its “Legion of Boom” defense beat the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, thanks in large part to Smith’s pick-six, fumble recovery and 10 tackles. Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Dexter Jackson won it with two-first half interceptions in XXXVII.
“My opinion, it’s an offensive league,” Eagles linebacker Zack Baun said. “Unless they have three sacks and a game-winning play or a game-winning sack. It’d probably be a defensive end. I don’t even think if a DB had two interceptions in the Super Bowl, it’d be accounted for, but I don’t know. It should be more fair.”
But it hasn’t always taken an eye-popping stat line for a defensive player to be recognized. Linebacker Ray Lewis was tabbed as game MVP in 2001 as the Ravens held the Giants to a touchdown in a decisive 34-7 win in Super Bowl XXXV. And Super Bowl XII featured the only co-MVPs, Dallas Cowboys defensive linemen Harvey Martin and Randy White who anchored a Dallas “Doomsday Defense” that forced eight turnovers in the 27-10 win against the Broncos.
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Though Edelman’s 10 catches for 141 yards won him the game MVP in LIII, cornerback Stephon Gilmore had a strong case for the individual accolade. Not only was he a part of a defense that allowed only a field goal, but he also had a forced fumble, interception, three pass breakups and five tackles.
Three years later, the game MVP went to Kupp as he recorded eight catches for 92 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald was a game-wrecker with two sacks, three quarterback hits, two tackles for loss and four tackles.
“You’ve got to do so much more on defense to get that type of notoriety,” Burns said.
Though it wouldn’t necessarily give defensive players more recognition in the Super Bowl game itself, some defensive players at the 2026 Pro Bowl game suggested adding another regular-season award to highlight the efforts of the unsung heroes of the defense.
“We need an individual defensive lineman award, because I do think sometimes we can get overlooked, especially sometimes for Player of the Week,” Simmons said, pointing to the newly created “Protector of the Year” award for the league’s top offensive lineman as a blueprint for a defensive lineman honor. “They’ll give it to a corner who had eight tackles versus if we had two sacks and fourth tackles. I think it is a little harder for guys up front to get that attention.
“I guess it’s on us to play a little harder and try to make more plays.”
