Chargers: NFL Defensive Player of the Year could come down to Joey Bosa and his brother

Joey Bosa and his younger brother Nick were both chosen as top three picks in the NFL draft when they entered the league. It hasn’t taken long to figure out why.

Both brothers are having tremendous seasons with their respective teams and there is a great chance, as good as they are, that they could finish as the top two vote-getters for the Defensive Player of the Year.

Nick Bosa would win that award as a rookie, which is why his season has gotten more headlines. But statistically, things are pretty close.

Nick Bosa: 7 sacks, 20 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, one interception

Joey Bosa: 7 sacks, 42 tackles,10 tackles for loss, one forced fumble

As you can see, if you’re going to talk about Nick as the DPOY, you have to mention his older brother, Joey, in that conversation. Sure, Joey doesn’t play on as dominant a defense as his brother, but he does have similar, if not better, stats.

Of course, players such as Stephon Gilmore, Shaquil Barrett and Myles Garrett belong in this conversation as well. All three of them are having terrific seasons, but the fact that both of the Bosa’s are playing the way they are, at such an early stage in each of their careers, shows you that this is a conversation we may have a lot in years to come.

Joey is nothing but happy about what his brother is doing. He spoke about that on a recent edition of The Rich Eisen Show. In this clip (video courtesy of AT&T AUDIENCE Network  )  he talks about Nick “planting the flag” after sacking Baker Mayfield in an earlier game this season.

For Joey’s part, he was instrumental in the team’s win over the Chicago Bears last week. Without Bosa, that’s likely a loss for the Chargers. Joey talked about that with Eisen in this clip (video, courtesy of AT&T AUDIENCE Network).

Note: The Rich Eisen Show airs daily from 9:00am-12:00pm PT  on AT&T AUDIENCE Network which can be found on DIRECTV Ch. 239. 

Last week, the Bosa brothers were each chosen as Defensive Player of the Week for their respective conferences. If the Defensive Player of the Year Award was handed out now, both players would receive votes and as the season progresses, both Joey and Nick will have a chance to pad that resume.

Nick will win the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award going away barring something unforeseen, but if he also wants to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award, he might have to perform better than his own brother to do so.