NFL Awards
MVP: Pat Mahomes – Having a historic season as the best player on arguably the best team.
Runner up: Andrew Luck– A lot of people wrote Luck off after multiple shoulder injuries and a slow start, but he willed them to the playoffs and he did it without as many weapons as a lot of other playoff teams this year. He made Eric Ebron look like a top 5 tight end.
Offensive Player of the Year: Todd Gurley – yes he missed a few games, but he still had 21 total Touchdowns, 1,800 hundred all purpose yards. The best skill position player on a top 2 offense. Many will claim Ezekiel Elliott or Saquon Barkley were better, but Elliott had 6 fumbles to Gurley’s 1 and had 5.3 yards per touch average to Gurleys 5.8. Barkley was a close 2nd, but he was on a bad team and was given way more opportunities than Gurley.
Runner up: Saquon Barkley- The stats are amazing, 2000 all purpose yards and 90 receptions. He has a very bright future and is a candidate for the 2,000 rushing yard club, but in terms of impact, compared to Gurley he was not nearly as impactful.
Defensive Player of the Year: Aaron Donald – Most dominant player arguably in all of football this season. The Rams defense is much worse without him.
Runner up: Khalil Mack- He played possessed this season and was without a doubt the biggest offseason addition to any team.
Rookie of the Year: Baker Mayfield – had he started from the beginning of the season and didn’t have to deal with Hue Jackson, you could make the argument they would’ve been in the playoffs.
Runner up: Saquon Barkley- While Barkley did have an amazing statistical season, his impact on the Giants was not nearly as big as Mayfield’s impact on the Browns.
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Saquon Barkley – unbelievable statistical season, but the team was horrible.
Runner up: Philip Lindsay- an undrafted free agent who took the NFL by storm averaging 5.4 yards per carry and rushing for over 1,000 yards with 10 total touchdowns. What’s amazing is Denver only gave Lindsay more than 15 carries in 3 games.
Defensive Rookie of the year: Darius Leonard – over 100 solo tackles, 12 tackles for a loss, 2 interceptions, 4 forced fumbles and 7 sacks. Darius Leonard was the reason the Colts defense improved.
Runner up: Bradley Chubb – 40 solo tackles, 14 tackles for a loss, 21 QB hits, 12 sacks, 2 forced fumbles. A lot of people didn’t notice because Denver was a mediocre team, but Bradley Chubb had a really good season and not just for a rookie.
Coach of the year: Matt Nagy – Took a Bears team that people thought had no shot and turned them into a contender. He has particularly done well with Mitchell Trubisky.
Runner Up: Andy Reid– give the man some credit. The Chiefs have the best team in the conference and he’s done a great job coaching Mahomes.
Biggest Surprise of the year: Chicago Bears – no one thought preseason that they would be a contender.
Runner up: Pat Mahomes- there were high hopes for Pat Mahomes in the preseason, but I don’t think anyone saw an MVP season coming.
Biggest Disappointment: Minnesota Vikings – They lose in the NFC Championship game and then give Kirk Cousins $84 million guaranteed thinking he would be an improvement over Keenum, only to not even make the playoffs.
Runner up: Green Bay Packers- When you have a quarterback as good as Aaron Rodgers there is really no excuse for missing the playoffs. 1-7 on the road is horrible.
Bonus Disappointment: Pittsburgh Steelers- From the Le’veon Bell debacle to Antonio Browns feud with Roethlisberger, this team is a mess.
All stats were gathered from: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
All Opinion are my own.
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