It was one of the biggest nights on the NFL calendar. NFL Honors! Right before the Super Bowl, the NFL honored the best of the best from the 2025 regular season. It was a collection of the best football players in the world and handing out the hardware of the guys who were head a shoulders above the rest during the regular season this year. So with that being said, here’s the full list of who won what at NFL Honors!
Art Rooney Award (outstanding sportsmanship on the playing field): Budda Baker Safety, Arizona Cardinals
Walter Payton Man of the Year: Bobby Wagner, Linebacker Washington Commanders
Jim Brown Award (NFL leading Rusher): James Cook, Buffalo Bills
Decon Jones Award (NFL Sack Leader): Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
Comeback Player of the Year: Christian McCaffery, Running Back San Francisco 49ers
Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots
Nothing against any of the other coaches who were nominated for this award, but lets be realistic here. This was really a one man race as the season went along. What Vrabel was able to do with this Patriots team. He had some level of success in Tennessee, but when he took the job in New England, he had a large task ahead of him. New England was a four win team last season. This year it was a 14-3 record and winning the AFC East. A ten win turnaround and a division title. There’s no way this wasn’t going to go to Vrabel.
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Carson Schwesinger, Linebacker Cleveland Browns
Taking a chance on him in the 2nd round seemed to pay off in a big way for the Browns. When the injury bug started to take hold in Cleveland, Schwesinger stepped in and made an impact right away, almost running away with DROY this year. 2.5 sacks and 141 total tackles in 16 games this season. Eye popping numbers for an impact player in his first year.
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tetaiora McMillian, Wide Receiver Carolina Panthers
When Carolina had their resurgence late in the year to make the playoffs, something nobody really expected them to do, this guy was a major reason for it. Finishing the year with 70 catches (7 of which went for touchdowns) and 1,014 receiving yards are good numbers. Really good actually, especially for a rookie. He made an impact right away for a young Carolina team that has something they could really work with in the passing game.
Defensive Player of the Year: Miles Garrett, Defensive End Cleveland Browns
There’s dominating seasons. Then there’s what Miles Garrett did for Cleveland this season. Garrett set the NFL single-season record for sacks with 23 this year. And it wasn’t just that. It was 60 total tackles and being such a threat and dominating force on the Browns line that he was a major disruption point for opposing offenses. Opposing teams could have had a game plan in place, and it all went right out the window when having to deal with Garrett this season. He was that dominating and then some this year.
Offensive Player of the Year: Jaxon Smith-Nijgba, Wide Receiver Seattle Seahawks
For the first time since 2005 (Shaun Alexander), a Seattle player won offensive player of the year. It was a close race between Smith-Nijgba and Christian McCaffery of the 49ers. But finishing the year as the NFL top receiver (1,793 yards on 119 catches) pushed him over the edge to win this award. Catches put him 4th in the league this year, but leading the entire league in receiving yards, and getting it done with Sam Darnold at QB is a major statement. Nothing against Sam Darnold who is a fine QB. But Smith-Nijgba was that dominating a force in the Seattle pass attack. No matter what defense was thrown at him, he was able to gain the yards to help that Seattle offense to keep moving forward and walk away with a 14-3 record and an NFC West title.
MVP: Matthew Stafford, Quarterback Los Angeles Rams
In one of the closest MVP races in recent memory, Stafford just barely beat out Drake Maye of the Patriots for the honors. Not to take away anything Maye did in New England, he had an outstanding year and has nothing to be ashamed of. Stafford had just put up slightly better numbers that lead him to walking away with the award. But if we are being honest here, the award could have gone to either guy and there would have been no complaints from anybody.
So what do you think? Did the right guys walk away with the right awards at NFL Honors?
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