Wednesday, February 14, 2024

NFL Honors

On the eve of the biggest game of the season for the NFL, they honored the best of the best. Right before Super Bow 58, the NFL announced the Hall of Fame class for 2024 as well as handing out the awards for the 2023 regular season. Its the one night on the football schedule where they honor the best in individual achievement in a great team sport.

Before we look at the individual awards, here's the full list of the Hall of Fame Class going in this upcoming August:

Dwight Freeney
Devin Hester
Andre Johnson
Julius Peppers
Patrick Willis
Randy Gradishar (senior)
Steve McMichael (senior)

Now then, here's the hardware that was handed out during NFL Honors.

Coach Of The Year: Kevin Stefanski Cleveland Browns
Tight group this year with a number of qualified candidates who could have walked away with the award this year. Look at what Dan Campbell was able to do in Detroit. Hell Stefanski even tied with Demeco Ryans, the head coach with Houston. The only reason Stefanski won it was because he got one more first place vote to be able to snag the award. And why not. He was able to get the Browns into the playoffs and with a winning record using FIVE different starting quarterbacks this season. Sure Ryans beat hom out in the playoffs, but again remember this is the regular season awards.

Offensive Rookie Of The Year: CJ Stroud Quarterback Houston Texans
Stroud is the first player in Texans history to claim offensive rookie of the year honors, and there have been a few good ones. The first year QB out of Ohio State set Texans rookie records for passing yards with 4.108 and touchdowns with 23 while leading them to a playoff spot. He also set an NFL record 1ith 191 consecutive passes to start a career without throwing an interception. The only player who came close to Stroud in the category was Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua.

Defensive Rookie of The Year: Will Anderson Jr, Defensive End Houston Texans.
Anderson becomes the 3rd Texans defensive player to walk away with the defensive Rookie of the Year honors, joining Bryan Cushing and DeMarco Ryans. Anderson just beat out Jalen Carter of the Eagles and Kobie Turner of the Rams, the only other guys to get first place votes. Anderson was a huge threat on the Texans defensive line.

Defensive Player of The Year: Miles Garrett Defensive End Cleveland Browns
Talk about another close race. it was between Garrett and TJ Watt of the Steelers. Yes Watt may have had more tackles and sacks this season, but no other defender struck more fear into the hearts of opposing offenses this year than Garrett did. Garrett caused havoc for the opposition in a way that no other defender did around the league this year

Offensive Player of The Year: Christian McCaffery, Running Back San Francisco 49ers
You could have made an argument for CeeDee Lamb in Dallas or Tyreek Hill in Miami. Sure, Tyreek and Cee Dee both had over 1,700 yards in receiving yards. but nobody was putting up the overall numbers of McCaffery. Ran for 1,459 yards and caught another 546 yards. Nobody had as many yards or had as much of an impact on a game as McCaffery did for the Niners offense.

MVP: Lamar Jackson, Quarterback Baltimore Ravens
For the 2nd time in his career, Jackson came home with MVP. He became the 11th player in league history to win multiple MVP awards. And he beat out some stiff competition to get the award this year. Guys like Dak Prescott, Christian McCaffery, Josh Allen (who got the only other first place vote) and Brock Purdy. Sure Dak and McCaffery may have had the better statistical years than Jackson did. but the eye test sticks out here more than anything and without Jackson in the Baltimore lineup, the Ravens don't finish the year as the top team in the AFC this season.

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