The NFL season is not over yet, but the NFL Honors Awards are coming up on February 8, just three days before Super Bowl LVIII. The Associated Press doles out all of the major accolades like NFL MVP and NFL Coach of the Year at this ceremony — now in its 13th iteration.
While Lamar Jackson is the clear front-runner for MVP, most of the other awards are still too close to call. Who will be the big winners this year? Here are our NFL Honors Awards picks.
NFL MVP
Finalists: Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens), Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys), Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills), Brock Purdy (San Francisco 49ers), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco 49ers)
For much of the year, this seemed like a two-horse race between Lamar Jackson and Christian McCaffrey, with Tyreek Hill having an outside shot if he hit the 2,000-yard mark in receiving yards. But a pair of late-season contests settled this bout in Jackson's favor.
In Week 16, the Ravens took down the 49ers thanks to four Brock Purdy interceptions. Both Jackson and McCaffrey had good games, but the result tilted the odds toward Jackson. A week later, Jackson proved that the Ravens' win over San Francisco was no fluke, as the dual-threat QB had five touchdowns on just 21 pass attempts in a blowout victory over the Miami Dolphins. That signature performance cemented Lamar Jackson as the NFL MVP.
Pick: Lamar Jackson
NFL Defensive Player of the Year
Finalists: DaRon Bland (Dallas Cowboys), Maxx Crosby (Las Vegas Raiders), Myles Garrett (Cleveland Browns), Micah Parsons (Dallas Cowboys), T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh Steelers)
In a year with so many great edge rushers, this race comes down to a pair of First-Team All-Pros: T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett. Both the Steelers and Browns are completely different teams without their star linebackers on the field. Pittsburgh is 1-10 (1-11 if you count this season's playoff game) when Watt is out, while Cleveland is 4-11 when Myles Garrett misses the game.
Both players were phenomenal this year, but Watt's edge in the sack department (19 to 14) makes him the choice for DPOY
Pick: T.J. Watt
NFL Offensive Player of the Year
Finalists: Tyreek Hill (Miami Dolphins), Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens), CeeDee Lamb (Dallas Cowboys), Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco 49ers), Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys)
In terms of pure offensive production, no NFL player was better this year than Christian McCaffrey. The 49ers running back led the NFL with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and 21 total touchdowns, all while averaging 5.4 yards per carry (best among RBs). McCaffrey is easily the OPOY at the NFL Honors.
Pick: Christian McCaffrey
NFL Coach of the Year
Finalists: Dan Campbell (Detroit Lions), John Harbaugh (Baltimore Ravens), DeMeco Ryans (Houston Texans), Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers), Kevin Stefanski (Cleveland Browns)
Far too often, this award is given to the coach of the best team in the league. Instead, we need to determine who did the best coaching job with what they had. Campbell, Harbaugh, and Shanahan are great coaches, but all three teams entered this season as the front-runners in their division. This leaves DeMeco Ryans and Kevin Stefanski.
Ryans engineered an NFL-best seven-win improvement in his first season as a head coach in 2023 — taking the Texans from the 2nd overall pick to the #4 seed in the AFC. Stefanski also did a phenomenal job in Cleveland, leading the Browns to a playoff spot despite losing Nick Chubb to a season-ending injury in Week 2 and needing to deploy five starting quarterbacks for the campaign.
Pick: DeMeco Ryans
NFL Comeback Player of the Year
Finalists: Baker Mayfield (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Matthew Stafford (Los Angeles Rams), Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins), Damar Hamlin (Buffalo Bills), Joe Flacco (Cleveland Browns)
Damar Hamlin seemed like the obvious choice at the beginning of the year for returning to the football field after surviving cardiac arrest. But the play of two journeyman quarterbacks now makes the CPOY award a toss-up.
Joe Flacco was sitting on his couch until late November when the Browns signed him to the practice squad, Two games later, he was the team's starting QB. Flacco led the Browns to a 4-2 record down the stretch to secure a playoff berth. Then there is Baker Mayfield, who, after losing his starting spot with the Carolina Panthers last year, was seen playing as a scout-team defensive lineman in practice. This year, he had more than 4,000 yards in the air and 28 touchdowns as he led the Buccaneers to a surprising NFC South title and Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
All three players are incredible stories, but in terms of on-field success in 2023, Baker Mayfield is the clear winner.
Pick: Baker Mayfield
NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
Finalists: C.J. Stroud (Houston Texans), Jahmyr Gibbs (Detroit Lions), Sam LaPorta (Detroit Lions), Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams), Bijan Robinson (Atlanta Falcons)
Every season, there are always a few rookies who immediately slot in as immediate impact players. But rarely is there a group of rookies that have as much impact as this group of first-year prospects. Sam LaPorta set the rookie tight end record for catches in a season, plus Puka Nacua and C.J. Stroud were also among the best at their positions. Meanwhile, Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs both had more than 1,200 yards from scrimmage and probably will not even crack the top three.
The race comes down to Stroud vs Nacua. Nacua set the NFL rookie record with 1,486 receiving yards, earning Second-Team All-Pro honors. Stroud led the league in interception rate and yards per game, guiding the Texans to a seven-win improvement from 2022 — the best in the NFL. This race is close, but despite Nacua's phenomenal season, no rookie had a bigger impact on their team than C.J. Stroud.
Pick: C.J. Stroud
NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
Finalists: Jalen Carter (Philadelphia Eagles), Will Anderson (Houston Texans), Kobie Turner (Los Angeles Rams), Devon Witherspoon (Seattle Seahawks), Joey Porter Jr. (Pittsburgh Steelers)
Offensive rookies have dominated the conversation this season, leading a solid crop of defensive rookies to fly under the radar. But with no true standouts, this is a tough group to pick from Jalen Carter was the favorite after the first half of the season but did not have much of an impact down the stretch. Will Anderson and Kobie Turner both approached the 10-sack mark while Devon Witherspoon had 79 tackles — including eight stops for a loss — as a cornerback.
Witherspoon is the only Pro Bowler among this quintet, giving him a slight edge over the rest of the group in this NFL Honors award.
Pick: Devon Witherspoon
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