With the Super Bowl coming up this Sunday, there is only one other NFL event left before fans around the world start gearing up for the offseason and the draft in April: the NFL Honors. The annual award show takes place this Thursday, February 6th, in New Orleans, across the street from Caesar’s Superdome where the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face each other in the Super Bowl three days later.
The show will see a plethora of awards given out, a total of nineteen, but this article will focus on the eight individual awards voted for by the Associated Press (AP). These awards include the MVP, the offensive and defensive players/rookies of the year, the comeback player of the year, as well as the coach and assistant coach of the year. Each award has five finalists, and while some have pull-away winners, others are tight races, so keep reading for my predictions for all of them!
AP Most Valuable Player – Lamar Jackson
Clearly the most sought after and usually highly debated award every year, the MVP race this year was a tight race and while there are five finalists, there are really only two options. The finalists are Josh Allen, Saquon Barkley, Joe Burrow, Jared Goff, and Lamar Jackson, with the clear favorites being Allen and Jackson. Quarterbacks have won the large majority of MVP awards throughout the NFL’s history and both the Bills and Ravens stars had amazing seasons. In my opinion, though likely a biased one as a Ravens fan, Jackson should be the clear winner. Though ending with a worse record than the Bills and the Ravens playoff run being ended by the Bills, it’s important to note that the award is based only on the regular season and voted on before the start of the playoffs, and wins and losses aren’t exactly a QB stat, though I do believe the Ravens 25-point win over the Bills in the regular season will hold weight with the AP voters. Lamar Jackosn also finished with one of the best QB seasons of all time, ending with the 4th best Quarterback Rating (QBR) ever. He also finished with better stats in nearly all significant categories compared to Josh Allen, though Allen led his Bills to an amazing season as well. It’s also important to highlight that this would be Jackson’s third MVP award, while Allen hasn’t won one. A term called “Voter’s Fatigue” may make voting lean more towards giving Allen the award, but nonetheless, Jackson is my pick.
AP Offensive Player of the Year – Saquon Barkley
I’m aware that I may have ranted while giving my argument for a Jackson “MV3,” so, I’ll try to keep the word count down through the next awards. My pick for OPOY is Saquon Barkley. Cast away by his former team, the Giants, Barkley signed with the rival Eagles with a chip on his shoulder. They didn’t want to pay him, so he showed exactly why they should’ve and became one of the few running backs to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark in a season, not to mention he rushed for 13 touchdowns and helped lead his Eagles to the second seed in the NFC. The second closest candidate is easily Derrick Henry, but even as a Ravens fan I can admit Barkley clearly has the better season. As for the other candidates, Ja’Marr Chase doesn’t come close to Barkley’s season, while both Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow are MVP candidates and aren’t as seriously considered for a somewhat lesser award.
AP Defensive Player of the Year – Patrick Surtain II
My pick for DPOY is Patrick Surtain II, well-known by his nickname, PS2. Surtain was easily the best Cornerback in football and helped lead his Broncos to have quite the defense. The 24-year-old is the betting favorite, sitting at –600, and watching his play, it’s clear that he had a profound impact on every game he played and was able to shut down many of the best receivers in the league. The other finalists – TJ Watt, Trey Hendrickson, Myles Garrett and Zack Baun –all had respectable seasons, but none had quite the impact as PS2 did.
AP Offensive Rookie of the Year – Jayden Daniels
This one is probably the easiest pick so far. The Commanders rookie had one of, if not the best, rookie seasons ever, leading a mediocre Washington team that was 4-13 last year, to a 12-5 finish, and although it isn’t considered, even led his team to an NFC Championship, the team’s first in a very long time. The next closest is Brock Bowers, the Raiders rookie TE, who might’ve won OROTY any other year, but he didn’t do enough to outplay Daniels, and neither did Malik Nabers, Bo Nix, or Brian Thomas Jr.
AP Defensive Rookie of the Year – Jared Verse
This race is one of the harder ones to call, but to me, it’s clearly Rams rookie Defensive End, Jared Verse. While his 4.5 sacks, 36 solo tackles, and 2 forced fumbles clearly demonstrate a great debut season, that alone doesn’t tell the story of his massive impact on a gritty Rams team. He clearly outplayed Cooper DeJean, Braden Fiske, Quinyon Mitchell, and Chop Robinson.
AP Comeback Player of the Year – Sam Darnold
I shouldn’t even have to argue my position on this award. Once considered one of the largest busts in NFL history, Darnold put on a near MVP-caliber performance in his first year with the Vikings, who were once thought to have no hope as a contender after losing their rookie QB, JJ McCarthy, to a season-ending injury. While JK Dobbins also put on a great season on his first year with a new team after facing a history of injuries, it doesn’t compare to Darnold’s heroics, and neither do the seasons of Joe Burrow, Christian Gonzalez, or Damar Hamlin.
AP Coach of the Year – Dan Campbell
COTY was a pretty tight race this year between Kevin O’Connell, Sean Payton, Dan Quinn, Andy Reid, and Dan Campbell, who happens to be my pick. Campbell has officially turned the Lions franchise around. After years of misery, the Lions now have back-to-back playoff berths and appear to be a serious contender.
AP Assistant Coach of the Year – Ben Johnson
Lastly, Assistant Coach of the Year: The finalists for this award are Joe Brady, Vic Fangio, Brian Flores, Aaron Glenn, and Ben Johnson. Once again, I’m going for a Lions coach. During his time with Detroit, Ben Johnson revolutionized modern offense. This includes throwing first down passes to an offensive lineman, and in general using complex and new schemes to consistently get the ball to the Lions best players. His work earned him a promotion to head coach, now with the Bears, and I expect him to also be awarded during the NFL Honors.
