FedEx Air & Ground Players of the Year: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons; Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys
AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
A little surprised that they gave this award to Dak over Ezekiel Elliott, winning the award by a total of seven points. Seven points separated the two teammates in what really turned into a two horse race as the season went on. This is no knock on Zek by any means, he did finish this season with 322 carries for 1,631 yards (which was the best mark of any running back in the NFL this year) and 15 touchdowns, He also caught 32 passes for 363 yards. Not a bad year by Zek its really not. Dak was a little bit better. Look at Dak's hard numbers. Dak threw 459 passes, completing 311 of them. Dak threw for 3,667 yards, 23 touchdowns and four interceptions. He finished the year with a 104.9 passer rating for the season. Sure, Zek may have put up the better numbers, but what put Dak over the top to win the award was his ability to win. The 13 wins he picked up this year are tied for the most ever by a rookie quarterback. He was thrust into starting duty due to Tony Romo getting hurt in training camp, and Dak lead them to a playoff win and a division title. Very deserving award for a hell of a quarterback.
AP Offensive Player of the Year presented by Microsoft: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
Matty Ice had himself a pretty good year this year in the world's best football league. He had himself a career year and was rightly rewarded for it. He completed 373 of 534 passes, good for a 69.9% Ryan threw for 4,944 yards, while throwing for 38 touchdowns against only seven interceptions. Oh and those 38 touchdowns he threw this year, they went to 13 different receivers, distributing the ball to All-Pro Julio Jones and low-key free-agent pickup Taylor Gabriel in equal measure. Yeah there was no better offensive threat in the league this year then Matty Ice. It was a banner year for Ryan, who as you can see picked up quite a bit of hardware this year.
Built Ford Tough Offensive Line of the Year: Dallas Cowboys
Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award: Frank Gore, Indianapolis Colts
Salute To Service Award Presented by USAA: Dan Quinn, Falcons
Castrol EDGE Clutch Performer of the Year: Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders
AP Assistant Coach of the Year: Kyle Shanahan, Atlanta Falcons
AP Coach of the Year: Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys
This one was a little interesting. Garrett picked up the award beating out Bill Belichick, Adam Gase, Jack Del Rio and Andy Reid to take home the prize. Sure Belichick did what he did this year without Brady for four games, but he eventually got his star QB back. Garrett had to play the whole year with an unproven rookie under center and still manged to lead his team to a thirteen win season. Talk about being able to deal woith a team under crisis management, Garrett pulled it off well. For a team that went 4-12 last year, Garrett's Cowboys won the NFC East in 2016 with a 13-3 record. It tied a franchise record for most wins in the regular season and brought the franchise's second division title since 2010. To see what he was able to do with this Cowboys team was pretty impressive when you sit back and think about it.
AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: Joey Bosa, Los Angeles Chargers
Bosa beat out fellow rookies Jalen Ramsey of Jacksonville and Deion Jones of Atlanta, but Bosa is the one who walked away with the award. Joey Bosa (10.5 sacks this season) was the first player since Aldon Smith & Von Miller in 2011 to have 10 or more sacks in a season as a rookie.It's been pretty well documented that Bosa was close to holding out at the start of the year because of the contract issue. Luckly for him, and the Chargers for that matter, he was able to work around it and get into the Chargers lineup for the entire season. Bosa was one of the best players at putting pressure on the quarterback this season. Bosa finished the season with 41 tackles, 19 tackles for loss and 15 QB hits. He proved that he was a dominant force on the field, which will be a big help for the Chargers next year. Los Angeles now has two teams and two big threats on the defensive side of the ball, Bosa for the Chargers and Khalil Mack of the Raiders. There's plenty to look forward to if you are a Chargers fan for quite some time to come.
Courtyard's "Greatness on the Road" Award: Le'Veon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers
AP Defensive Player of the Year presented by Old Spice: Khalil Mack, Oakland Raiders
The Mack Attack has struck bigtime out in Oakland. Khalil Mack won defensive player of the year, beating out the likes of Von Miller of the Broncos, Landon Collins of the Giants, Aaron Donald of the Rams, Sean Lee of the Cowboys and Eric Berry of the Chiefs. This is big news for Mack as he becomes the first Raider to win AP Defensive Player of the Year since Lester Hayes in 1980. Sure JJ Watt having back surgery and missing most of the year left this door wide open, but it was a tight race between Mack and Von Miller, with Mack getting the edge by just a single vote. He had a stretch of about two months from mid-October to mid-December where he was at his true best and most dominating. Over that eight-game span, Mack terrorized opposing quarterbacks for 10 sacks, 13 QB hits, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and a pick-six while the Raiders entered the playoff picture for the first time in over a decade. By the time the season was over, Mack had been responsible for an astonishing 44% of the Raiders sacks this year.
AP Comeback Player of the Year presented by McDonald's: Jordy Nelson, Green Bay Packers
Last year was a very tough year for Jordy Nelson. He missed all of last year with a torn ACL in his right knee, an injury he suffered in a preseason game in August 2015. So that basically wiped out all of the 2015 season for Jordy. That's OK, 2016 rolled around and its like he never skipped a beat. He aws once again the go-to target for Aaron Rodgers this year, and was a big reason why the Packers had the mid-season turn around they did to charge up to a division title. This year, Nelson caught 97 passes for 1,257 yards and 14 touchdowns. Even though this had no real bearing on the award, he even played in the NFC title game against Atlanta wearing a Kevlar vest to help deal with a rib injury. If that's not showing how bad a guy wants to win I don't know what will. Nelson proved to himself, his teammates and the rest of football that he's back and never missed a beat from 2014. Nelson is still an elite receiver in the NFL.
Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year presented by Nationwide: Eli Manning, New York Giants; Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals
AP Most Valuable Player: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
Talk about having yourself a career year, that's what happened to Matty Ice this season. When it came to voting for this award, Ryan beat out Tom Brady of the Patriots, Ezekiel Elliott of the Cowboys, Derek Carr of the Raiders, Aaron Rodgers of the Packers, and Dak Prescott of the Cowboys in voting for this award. Some of the numbers really do speak for themselves. Ryan posted a career-high 69.9 completion percentage, he threw for 4,944 yards and 38 touchdowns, to go along with a career-low seven interceptions. As the season went along, it was clear that he was feeling very comfortable in Kyle Shanahan's system, which will make things all the more interesting next year, since Shanahan will be coaching elsewhere in San Francisco. the only downside for Matt Ryan has to be the ending of the year. Since the turn of the century, no player that has won league MVP and played in the Super Bowl has ever won it. last MVP to win the Super Bowl in the same year was Kurt Warner in 1999. Still with the numbers Ryan put up helping lead the Falcons to the highest scoring team in the NFL is still pretty impressive. Congrats to Matty Ice on winning the NFL MVP!
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