Unanimous Pinnacle: Myles Garrett Claims AP’s Top NFL Edge Rusher Honor Ahead of Rams Tenure

When an evaluation panel reaches absolute consensus in modern professional football, the underlying metrics usually tell a story of sheer statistical anomaly. For Myles Garrett, entering the 2026 NFL training camps wearing Los Angeles Rams colors following a massive June trade from Cleveland, the unanimous verdict delivered by an Associated Press panel of eight Pro Football Writers is grounded in a historic body of work. Garrett captured all eight first-place votes to finish atop the AP edge rusher poll with 80 points, comfortably clearing a star-studded field as the league prepares for kickoff.

The distinction crowns a player whose previous campaign redefined the ceiling for exterior pass rushing. Garrett secured his second AP Defensive Player of the Year award last season and earned his fifth career All-Pro selection after shattering the NFL's single-season sack record with 23 takedowns, surpassing the previous benchmark shared by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt. Beyond the headline sack numbers, Garrett registered 33 tackles for loss, anchored a pressure success rate exceeding 20 percent despite facing double teams nearly 30 percent of the time, and piled up 125.5 career sacks—the second-most through a player's first nine seasons in league history behind only Reggie White.

Entering the 2026 schedule, the positional hierarchy established by the AP panel reflects distinct tiers of recovery, leverage, and generational production:

While the AP ballot cemented Garrett at the summit, ESPN's broader annual survey of over 70 league executives, coaches, and scouts—conducted alongside analyst Matt Bowen—illuminates the tactical hurdles opponents face against the top tier. League coordinators noted that Garrett's blend of raw power rivals that of interior disruptors like Aaron Donald, paired with an advanced mental processing speed that deciphers chipped protections, slide blocks, and run-fakes without wasted motion. Notably, 47 of Garrett's 125.5 career sacks have arrived when his team trailed on the scoreboard, marking the third-highest such total since individual sacks became official in 1982.

Behind Garrett, Green Bay's Micah Parsons claimed second place in the AP balloting with 27 points—appearing on all eight ballots despite a torn ACL suffered in Week 15 of last season that threatens to sideline him at the start of the 2026 campaign. Parsons remains the only player in NFL history to open a career with five consecutive seasons totaling at least 12 sacks, maintaining a 24.6% pressure success rate despite facing double teams on a staggering 37.8% of his snaps.

The ballot also maps out the shifting fortunes of established veterans and ascending forces. Houston's Will Anderson Jr., fresh off a first All-Pro nod and a lucrative three-year, $150 million contract extension, anchors the Texans' defense after pacing all NFL edge defenders with 62 pressure-win duels last season. Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson bounced back from an injury-truncated 2024 to record a career-best 14.5 sacks, playing a league-high 950 snaps for the Lions. Conversely, Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt experienced a notable slide in both panels—dropping to fourth in the AP vote and seventh in ESPN's broader survey following a season disrupted by a partial lung collapse from a routine medical procedure, which limited him to seven sacks across 14 games and yielded an 11.7% pressure success rate.

For Garrett, the relocation to Los Angeles shifts not only his defensive context but his ultimate career stakes. Having appeared in only three career postseason games during his tenure with the Browns, the league's newly crowned premier edge rusher now steps into a Rams franchise carrying preseason Super Bowl aspirations, where his elite pressure metrics will be leveraged directly into deep-January leverage.