AP is not only award

[en.wikipedia.org]

Deacon won the NEA Defensive MVP twice, Youngblood won the UPI Award, Quinn was the PFWA DPOY in 2013

All of those were semi-official, though none are official, even the AP.

The NFl Record and Fact book published the ones I mentioned and the Collective Bargaining agreement stipulates which ones can be used for bonuses.

So, before there was the AP, Deacon won it twice, in 67 and 1968