Now that the season awards have been handed out at the NFL Honors, only the most important trophies remain to be decided: the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl MVP. With Josh Allen’s victory over Lamar Jackson for the MVP, Allen became the first Bills player since Thurman Thomas in 1991 to win the award, and also the third player since the award’s inception in 1957 to win it despite not being named first-team All-Pro (Jackson was). I think the deciding factor in the end was that Allen and the Bills beat Jackson and the Ravens in the divisional round. Even though the playoffs don’t count in the voting, Allen’s win seemed to be taken into account this time. Also, only one non-quarterback has won the award since Tom Brady won in 2007 (Adrian Peterson in 2012), so maybe they should just make it a quarterback-only award and another for the rest of the players.
Who did Tom Brady Vote for?
This year’s voting was extremely close, in fact the closest since 2016 when Matt Ryan beat out Tom Brady. Allen received 27 of the 50 votes, while Lamar received the other 23. The AP revealed who the 50 voters picked for MVP. These voters ranked five players from first to fifth, with first place receiving 10 points, second place receiving 5 points, third place receiving 3 points, fourth place receiving 2 points, and fifth place receiving 1 point. Notable voters included Tom Brady, Tony Dungy, Mike Tirico, Kay Adams, Tedy Bruschi and Dan Orlovsky.
Tom Brady, who will be attending his 11th Super Bowl but his first as a broadcaster, voted for Lamar Jackson, with Josh Allen second, Saquon Barkley third, followed by Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow. Brady has won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award three times in his career (2007, 2010 and 2017), surpassed only by Aaron Rodgers (4) and Peyton Manning (5). Had Jackson won this year, he would have joined Brady as a three-time MVP, but this time a statistically superior season didn’t help him. Jackson became the first quarterback ever to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for 800 yards in a single season, finishing with 4,172 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and four interceptions, along with 915 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. But in the end, none of that mattered as Allen took home the trophy.
As for Allen, who has put together five straight phenomenal seasons, he threw for 3,731 yards with 28 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also rushed for 531 yards and 12 more scores. He became the first player in league history to have 25 touchdown passes, 10 rushing scores and fewer than 10 interceptions in a season. He extended his own NFL record for consecutive seasons with 40 passing/rushing touchdowns (five). He also led an offense that tied an NFL record with 13 different players catching touchdown passes, proving he can lead anyone and elevate his teammates.
Other NFL Honors Award Winners
- Coach of the Year: Kevin O’Connell (Vikings) – Became just the second coach in NFL history to post back-to-back 13-win seasons in his first three years.
- Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Burrow, QB/Bengals – Led the league in passing yards (4,918) and passing touchdowns (43). Won the award for the second time in his career.
- Offensive Player of the Year: Saquon Barkley (RB/Eagles) – Became the ninth player to reach 2,000 rushing yards, finishing just 100 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record (2,105).
- Offensive Rookie of the Year: Jayden Daniels (QB/Commanders) – Sixth rookie quarterback to lead his team to a conference championship game. Passed for more yards (891) than any other rookie QB in history.
- Defensive Player of the Year: Pat Surtain II (CB/Broncos) – Allowed the fewest receiving yards (306) of any cornerback this season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
- Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jared Verse (Edge/Rams) – First Rams rookie to win the award since Aaron Donald. Recorded 4.5 sacks, 66 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries.
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