The NFL Award ceremony is where players who had amazing and record breaking seasons finally get recognized for their amazing success. This includes the Most Valuable Player of the year, the best offensive, and defensive players, as well as the offensive and defensive rookies of the year. But not only do players get recognized but Coaches as well. For the last couple of years, everyone has a bit of an understanding of who’s gonna win what, but some awards could easily go either way.
COACH OF THE YEAR:
To be truly honest, the amount of good coaching that has happened throughout this year has been one of the best throughout the entire NFL season. The big switch that has happened this year is that so many first year coaches are in the playoffs. Like Ben Johnson, Liam Cohen, and Mike Vrabel. They all have been Coaches before, but I still think that the new step for them has been great, and it’s refreshing to see more talent being used by really good coaches. There are so many different and amazing Coaches that are doing great things, like Kyle Shahann, Mike Macdonald, Sean Payton, and DeMeco Ryans. But I still think the NFL coach of the year should be Mike Vrabel. What Vrabel has done as a coach is absolutely incredible. He took a patriots team that in the last 2 years have gone 6-26, and yet one year with this new and updated team. They go 14-3, and become the AFC’s 1 seed. To me this shows how good of a coach Vrabel really is. The Patriots once again have struck gold with a coach of his caliber.
PROTECTOR OF THE YEAR:
This is a newer award, and I think it has taken too long to get an award for one of the most important offensive groups in the NFL. There are so many good, and amazing offensive linemen, but there have been some clear favorites for this award. Including Trent Williams, Penei Sewell, Dion Dawkins, and Aaron Brewer. In my opinion, it is very hard to actually rank or pick a protector, but I think that Penei Sewell, as on this list, so many of these players had a healthy offensive line, and didn’t have to worry about that, and looking at Penei’s line, and what he did with it is completely remarkable. I would love to see him win it and get his appreciation for his hard work this year. With that being said I still think all of these players deserve the awards and each, and everyone of them could easily win it.
OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
The offensive rookie of the year race has been one of the weirdest races in the history of the game. For the first half of the year, anyone would pick Emeka Egbuka, and then after the many problems with this buccaneers team, it has clearly switched to the other standout Wide Receiver in this class. That would be Tetairoa McMillian having 1,000 receiving yards and leading rookies in both receiving yards and touchdowns. There also was some amazing play from Quarterback Jaxson Dart, and Cam Ward, who should not go untalked about. Cam Ward threw for 15 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions, with 3,169, while rushing for 2 touchdowns, and 159 yards. While Jaxson Dart threw for 2,272 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions, while also rushing for 9 touchdowns, and 487 yards. These 2 both had excellent campaigns, and show off a bright future. So my official pick for who will be Offensive Rookie of the year is Tetairoa McMillian, Wide Receiver on the Carolina Panthers.
DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
The Defensive Rookie of the year was and has been Carson Schwesinger, but I will say, the season Abdul Carter has started to put up is not one to not shed some light on. The new york giants, could easily go into the NFL award ceremony and walk away with both of the Rookie of the years. This is a very interesting year, but like I said you can’t beat the stats that Carson has had the whole season, he has been remarkable. Carson looked great, and will most likely continue to produce like that for an amazing Defense that the Cleveland Browns run. Schwesinger had 2 interceptions, 2.5 sacks while also getting 89 tackles. This rookie campaign is very good, and shows so much promise for a player of his caliber. While players like Abdul Carter for the Giants, Edge rusher had 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 43 total tackles. Now this is also a remarkable campaign for him, and a player like James Pearce Jr. Edge Rusher for the Falcons had 10.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 26 total tackles, while Nick Emmanwori had 1 interception, 81 total tackles, 2.5 sacks as a safety in only 14 games played. These are some amazing rookie campaigns, but still I think Carson Schwesinger Linebacker for the Cleveland Browns has proved himself as the defensive rookie of the year.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
This Offensive player of the year race, has been one of the best and closest we may ever seen. The contenders are Puka Nacua, Bijan Robinson, Christian McCaffrey, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Puka has become one of the most consistent Wide Receivers in the league for the past couple of years, he had 1,715 receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns, and led the league with 129 receptions. Now for Bijan Robinson, he has become a standout Running Back for the Atlanta Falcons, having 1,478 rushing yards, and 820 receiving yards, with 11 total touchdowns. Christian McCaffrey has been one of the best players in the NFL for a long time, and so far doesn’t seem like he is ready to stop, 1,202 and 10 rushing touchdowns, with 102 receptions, and 924 receiving yards, and 7 receiving touchdowns. Now with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who after losing both his quarterback in Geno Smith, and his teammate D.K. Metcalf, he showed up where it matters most. He had 119 Receptions, he led the league with 1,793 receiving yards, and 10 receiving touchdowns. This race is very close, and all of these players showed out, there are also some players that had amazing years but were not mentioned. With that all being said my prediction is Jaxon Smith-Njigba Wide Receiver for the Seattle Seahawks will be the offensive player of the year.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
There have been some amazing players on defense who have had great seasons and proved that they should be up for the award but with that being said, I think everyone knows that the person who will win the Defensive Player of the year award, and that player is Myles Garrett. This could be a unanimous decision, with 60 total tackles, 3 forced fumbles, and with an NFL record of 23 sacks. In a record breaking season, I can’t imagine he would lose the award. But I do think we should congratulate some of the amazing players that have held down their defenses and made their team better. This includes Will Anderson Jr, Edge Rusher for the Texans, Brian Burns Edge Rusher for the Giants, and Nik Bonito Edge Rusher for the Broncos. These players had great seasons but I still think that Myles Garrett deserves to win the award.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
There is a 2 man race for the MVP, and it is between Drake “Drake Maye” Maye and Matthew Stafford. This race has been a weird one, as so many different players were in the MVP race, including both Jonathan Taylor, Daniel Jones, and even Jared Goff. The race is now down to 2, and to some it is a close race to others, it is a done deal. In my opinion, I believe that Drake “Drake Maye” Maye deserves the MVP. I think this because of the difference in both of their similar opponents Drake Maye performed better, while the Stafford also threw 18 touchdowns on touchdowns on the 1 yard line, unlike Drake Maye, who’s team plays traditional football and runs the ball on the 1-yard line. With that being said, I still think that Stafford had one heck of a year, and I would be disappointed if Stafford won the award, I would still be happy to see a Detroit legend to win the award, and that would be a great thing to see. Either can win the award and I would still be happy, I think Stafford will actually get the award, but I think Maye deserves the award.
