With the season being one super bowl game from being over, it’s that time of year where NFL awards are handed out. There’s been loads of amazing players this season so picking a winner for these awards was not easy, so here we go with my version of the NFL Awards.
Most Valuable Player: Aaron Rodgers
Even though the postseason was a huge disappointment for Rodgers and the Pack, the MVP is a regular season trophy and Rodgers just completed one of his best regular seasons in his career, en route to securing the #1 seed for the 2nd year in a row. After starting off the year in the worst way possible, a 35 point loss to the hands of the New Orleans Saints, Rodgers was lights out from there on, finishing the season with 4,115 passing yards, 37 touchdowns, and only 4 ints, also leading the league in QBR as well. Another dynamic season from one of the best QBs in NFL History leads to back to back MVPs.
OPOY: Jonathan Taylor
Jonathan Taylor entered the season coming off of a very underrated rookie year where he rushed for 1,169 yards and 11 touchdowns, but no one could’ve expected what we saw from him this year. Even though he didn’t record his first 100 yard rushing game until week 4, he turned it on in a hurry, including rushing for 100+ in 7 of his last 9 games, including a 185 yard outburst against buffalo. He finished the season leading the NFL in both yards and touchdowns with 1,811 and 18 and was the sole reason why Indy nearly made a late push into the playoffs.
DPOY: TJ Watt
This was one of the closest races all year. Aaron Donald was his usual dominant self, Micah Parsons burst onto the scene and looked like he could become the first player since Lawerence Taylor to win DPOY as a rookie, Myles Garrett was the leader all year and finished with 16 sacks of his own, and even Trevon Diggs was in the race with his 11 ints. But in the end, it was TJ Watt who tied Michael Strahans’s record for 22.5 sacks in a single season despite missing 2 games. A dominant season like that is very much deserving of the defensive player of the year award.
Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel
This was probably the closest race as there were many coaches who had excellent seasons, whether that be veteran coaches who took their teams to new heights (Vrabel and Taylor), rookie coaches who led their teams to playoff berths (Nick Sirianni), or even interim coaches who led their team to the playoffs through all types of in-season turmoil (Rich Bisaccia). Now, again i state that these awards are based on the regular season ONLY. If i was taking into account the postseason, Zac Taylor would most likely be the choice, but since we’re deciding based only off the regular season body of work, this award goes to Mike Vrabel, who worked through losing his best offensive player and led his team to the #1 seed.
OROY: Jamarr Chase
This one should be unanimous, no disrespect to Rashawn Slater or Mac Jones but Jamarr Chase just completed a season that was arguably better than the record breaking season his college teammate, Justin Jefferson, had last year which is saying something. This isn’t an award I should have to do much explaining for, it’s Chase by a mile.
DPOY: Micah Parsons
If you thought the OROY award wasn’t close, this one was even more of a landslide. Micah Parsons had a stranglehold on this award by week 5 and was really only competing for the defensive player of the year. Parsons came into the year slated to play MLB but after Demarcus Lawerence went down early with an injury, he was allowed to rush the QB more and you could say that that decision was the best decision Dallas made all year, as the rookie would tally 13 sacks, leading the vastly improved Cowboys D to an NFC East Title.
Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Burrow
This award was a 3 man race all year between Dak Prescott, Nick Bosa, and Joe Burrow. All 3 of these guys had stellar seasons and were key contributors in getting their teams to their playoffs, but only one can be chosen for this award and for me, it’s Joe Burrow. Nick Bosa probably had the best overall year but Burrow coming back from tearing his ACL in his rookie year to leading Cincinnati to its first divisional title since 2015 in only his 2nd year is too impressive to go unrewarded.
TheDyspatch 