The 2025 NFL season shook the football world to its core.
A lot of typically dominant teams struggled this year, and, therefore, players often in the race for NFL honors won't be taking home any hardware this year. Instead, a lot of fresh blood made a name for themselves. The finalists were just announced for every major NFL award, and voters have already cast their ballots for the NFL MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and much more.
So, which players will win the top NFL awards?
Most Valuable Player
Finalists: Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, Drake Maye, Christian McCaffrey, Matthew Stafford
Josh Allen is up for the MVP again, a year after winning the NFL's most prestigious award. His numbers weren't much worse than they were when he took home the award last year, but voters tend to get voter fatigue when an MVP winner doesn't noticeably improve. Votes were submitted before the playoffs, as the NFL MVP is a regular-season award, but it is worth noting that Allen's Buffalo Bills were eliminated from the playoffs again despite postseason staples such as Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson not being in the field this year.
Trevor Lawrence was arguably playing like the best quarterback in the NFL over the last month or so of the season. He had 14 touchdown passes from Week 14 to Week 18. That will likely be too little too late to win the MVP, though.
Christian McCaffrey had a fantastic season for the San Francisco 49ers. He is so much more than just a running back because he is such a weapon in the passing game. In addition to 1,202 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground, McCaffrey had 102 catches for 924 yards and seven touchdowns through the air. However, the MVP is still considered somewhat of a quarterback award these days.
That means the MVP will likely come down to either Matthew Stafford or Drake Maye.
Stafford is the favorite. Earlier in his career, the 2009 first overall pick would put up huge numbers, but he couldn't find team success with the Detroit Lions. The Georgia product has aged like fine wine, though. Now with the Los Angeles Rams, Stafford led the league in passing yards (4,707) and touchdowns (46). Maye nearly overtook the lead spot for winning the MVP, and the award should come his way for years to come, but Stafford will likely take home the award in his age-37 season.
Prediction: Matthew Stafford
Defensive Player of the Year
Finalists: Myles Garrett, Aidan Hutchinson, Nik Bonitto, Micah Parsons, Will Anderson Jr.
Myles Garrett is a lock to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. FanDuel lists him as a -50000 favorite to be named the best defensive player in the NFL. It makes sense, too, considering the Cleveland Browns' pass rusher broke the single-season sacks record by bringing the quarterback down 23 times.
None of Aidan Hutchinson, Micah Parsons, Nik Bonitto, or Will Anderson has much of a case for the award, but they all had fantastic seasons. After suffering a gruesome injury last season, Hutchinson immediately got back on track this year. Speaking of injuries, Parsons was having a fantastic season in his first year with the Green Bay Packers after being traded from the Dallas Cowboys, but his season ended when he tore his ACL.
Bonitto and Anderson played on arguably the two best defensive teams in the NFL, the Denver Broncos and the Houston Texans, respectively. The Broncos came up just short of breaking the team sacks record, and Bonitto's 14 sacks were a big reason why. The Texans were first in team defense and second in points against. Anderson had 12 sacks, but that actually trailed the 15 that his teammate, Danielle Hunter, had.
Prediction: Myles Garrett
Offensive Player of the Year
Finalists: Drake Maye, Christian McCaffrey, Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Bijan Robinson
While the MVP has become a quarterback award, the Offensive Player of the Year Trophy has predominantly gone to the best non-QB in recent years. Perhaps Maye will win the award as a consolation prize for getting second in MVP voting, but that seems unlikely. While McCaffrey is an MVP finalist, he actually likely won't win this award, either.
Instead, Jaxon Smith-Njigba will take home the Offensive Player of the Year award. His 1,793 receiving yards were the eighth most in a season ever. The Seattle Seahawks star also added 119 receptions and led his team to being the top scoring program in the sport. Nacua was statistically right on his tail, though. He actually had more receptions (129), the same amount of touchdowns (10), and only 78 fewer yards (1,715).
It was somewhat surprising to see Bijan Robinson as a finalist. His 1,478 yards trailed James Cook's 1,621 by a decent margin, and he only had seven rushing touchdowns compared to Jonathan Taylor's 18. Neither Cook nor Taylor was chosen as an Offensive Player of the Year finalist.
Prediction: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Offensive Rookie of the Year
Finalists: Jaxson Dart, Emeka Egbuka, Tetairoa McMillan, Tyler Shough, TreYeyon Henderson
The Offensive Rookie of the Year race was an ever-revolving door during the regular season. Emeka Egbuka burst onto the scene with five touchdowns in the first five weeks. He and his Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a whole cooled off, though. Egbuka only had one more touchdown the rest of the season.
Jaxson Dart didn't start the season as the New York Giants starting quarterback, but when he was promoted come Week 4, he immediately flashed greatness. Dart collected two wins within his first three games. He had 10 total touchdowns over his first four games, but like Egbuka, Dart also hit a rookie wall. A reckless playing style led to Dart suffering injuries, and the Giants underwent a nine-game losing streak.
On the other end of the spectrum, TreVeyon Henderson and Tyler Shough were slow starters. The New England Patriots refused to give the running back much of a chance for the first third of the season. Henderson only had 43 carries through the first seven games of the season. He made the most of his opportunities when the team started to feed him the ball, though. By season's end, Henderson had four multi-touchdown games.
Shough lost a preseason quarterback competition to Spencer Rattler, so he spent half the season sitting on the bench. When he was named the starter, he showed off impressive physical traits, giving the New Orleans Saints long-term optimism about the signal-caller position.
The one player who was consistent throughout the season was Tetairoa McMillan. Because of that, he will likely end up winning the Rookie of the Year award. McMillan ended the year 14th in receiving yards (1,014) and 34th in receptions (70).
Prediction: Tetaiora McMillan
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Finalists: Abdul Carter, Nick Emmanwori, James Pearce Jr., Carson Schwesinger, Xavier Watts
Abdul Carter was the third overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Many considered him to be the best overall prospect. He had somewhat of a disappointing rookie season with just 4.5 sacks, but he did enough to be a Defensive Rookie of the Year finalist. That may more so go to show how thin the defensive talent was this year among rookies.
Carson Schwesinger is the favorite to take home the award. While Myles Garrett got a lot of the publicity among the Browns' defense, the team wouldn't have been where they were without Schwesinger's 156 tackles. That number ranked sixth in all of the NFL.
Nick Emmanwori, James Pearce Jr., and Xavier Watts all have a Defensive Rookie of the Year case, too. Emmanwori is a playmaker who operates all over the field for the Seattle Seahawks. Pearce had 10.5 sacks, and Watts' five interceptions were tied for the second most in the NFL.
Prediction: Carson Schwesinger
Comeback Player of the Year
Finalists: Stefon Diggs, Aidan Hutchinson, Trevor Lawrence, Dak Prescott, Christian McCaffrey
The Comeback Player of the Year award is up for grabs. Stefon Diggs, Dak Prescott, Hutchinson, and McCaffrey all missed much of last year with injuries. McCaffrey, in particular, only played in four games. Lawrence was also nearing bust territory. All of those players had impressive bounce-back years. McCaffrey had the biggest improvement in production, though.
One surprise to not see among the Comeback Player of the Year frontrunners is Philip Rivers. The 44-year-old quarterback came out of retirement after having not played since 2020. He didn't break down any barriers during his time with the Indianapolis Colts, but his return from a major hiatus was impressive nonetheless.
Prediction: Christian McCaffrey
Coach of the Year
Finalists: Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson, Kyle Shanahan, Liam Coen, Mike Macdonald
After years of the same teams dominating the NFL landscape, polarity finally took over the league. A lot of head coaches played a huge part in turning their teams around from bottom dwellers to Super Bowl contenders.
The Patriots were 4-13 in each of the prior two seasons. Mike Vrabel helped them turn into a 14-3 team that is playing in the AFC Championship Game. It now seems clear that the Tennessee Titans shouldn't have given up on Vrabel as quickly as they did. It can be argued that the Patriots' improvement came largely because of upgrades to the roster, but Vrabel is still the odds-on frontrunner to be named the Coach of the Year.
Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears helped Caleb Williams start to live up to his potential as one of the most highly touted prospects ever. The Bears were one of the surprise teams of the NFL this season and earned the two seed in the NFC. Liam Coen similarly turned the Jacksonville Jaguars into a contender. Both Johnson and Coen were in their first season at the helm of their new teams.
Kyle Shanahan's case for the Coach of the Year stems from the fact that the San Francisco 49ers succeeded this year despite the team being depleted by injuries all year long. The team's two best defenders, Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, missed much of the year with season-ending injuries, for example. Mike Macdonald is also a Coach of the Year finalist. He led the Seattle Seahawks to the one-seed in the NFC despite being just 38 years old. All of these coaches have a case, but it is Johnson who should be rewarded with the Coach of the Year trophy.
Prediction: Ben Johnson
