Let’s talk about the NFL honors..
The night before Super Bowl LV, we learned who won the seasons most prestigious awards on the NFL honors. This season we saw some raw talent from a few players that will cement them into the history of the league. However there we some awards that most definitely went to the wrong player, and we’re here today to talk about that.
The main mistake that the voters made was with Defensive player of the year. Aaron Donald took home the award while TJ Watt outperformed him in every important category, while playing one less game than him. We aren’t denying the greatness of Aaron Donald and he is certainly a first ballot hall of famer, but this season belonged to TJ.
The next award that we had a problem with was Offensive Rookie of the Year. The quarterback for the Chargers took home the award, but the voters almost denied the historic season that Justin Jefferson had. The Vikings receiver had a better rookie season than Randy Moss and had more receiving yards than AJ Brown, Julio Jones, and Mike Evans. Herbert also had a historic rookie season, so we don’t want to rip the award away from him, but rather suggest that the award should have been split between the two.
Lastly, we want to talk about the MVP award. Historically it has been given to the best player of the season, but in recent history it has become more like the MVQ, the most valuable quarterback award. The nominees for the MVP this year was Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers won this award decisively, without surprise. Rodgers had undeniably the best season of any quarterback this year, and it was well deserved, but its absurd that Derrick Henry wasn’t even nominated. Derrick Henry had a 2,000+ yard rushing season to go along 19 catches for 114 yards and 17 total touchdowns. He ripped the Titans rushing record away from Chris Johnson, and became the first 2,000 yard rusher since Adrian Peterson in 2012. That year AP won the MVP, marking the last time a player without “QB” next to his name has won the award. Again, we’re not denying the greatness of Aaron Rodgers, but when a running back goes over 2,000 yards, essentially carries his team on his back to the playoffs, then doesn’t even get nominated, its kind of a slap in the face to him and the franchise around him.
As we’ve said multiple times in this post, we aren’t trying to deny how great the players who won these awards are, for we aren’t players ourselves. But (opinion time) the Associated Press has got to get it together and stop voting for the biggest names in the league, but rather who played the best. Please, for the sake of the fans, don’t let the awards turn into the Pro Bowl, this shouldn’t be a popularity contest.