Making all of the NFL Honors award predictions
NFL Honors will take place this week, coinciding with the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The best of the best from the exciting 2024 NFL season will be revealed on Thursday night. MVP, Coach of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year, and Comeback Player of the Year are among the more than a dozen honors that will be given out.
Here are some tips on how to watch NFL Honors before we try to guess the winners of seven of the biggest honors.
How to see
Date: February 6th, Thursday Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Location: New Orleans’ Saenger Theater
TV: NFL Network/Fox
Since 1970, 732 quarterbacks have participated in 500 snaps in a season. Josh Allen had the fewest plays with a sack, fumble, or interception (4.17%) during his 2024 season. People were dismissing the Buffalo Bills as genuine contenders because they suffered so many losses in the previous offseason. Allen lost his starting center and top two wide receivers, but Lamar Jackson acquired Derrick Henry to his backfield. Nevertheless, he managed to have the best season of his career!
Allen only had 25 bad plays (sack, fumble, or INT) and 41 total touchdowns. The four other quarterbacks all won MVP, and that’s the fifth-best differential a quarterback has made since 2000. In terms of receiving yards, Allen’s top receiver was 40th in the NFL, and Buffalo’s rusher ranking was outside the top 15. The Bills went 13-4, won the division, and advanced to the AFC Championship thanks to Allen.
Kevin O’Connell was named Coach of the Year.
When rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy had a season-ending knee injury during the preseason, it seemed like the Minnesota Vikings were dealt a serious blow. Could Sam Darnold effectively manage this offense? Thanks to O’Connell, indeed.
As the starting quarterback, Darnold finished 14-3 and recorded career-high totals, completing 66.2% of his throws for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. In their debut season with a team, those 14 victories were the most by any quarterback in NFL history. Despite a difficult ending, the Vikings had their best season since 1998 this past season. The defense tied for first place in turnovers induced (33), and it ended fifth in scoring (19.5 points allowed per game).
Joe Burrow was named the Comeback Player of the Year.
There will be some confusion with this award. “The spirit of the AP Comeback Player of the Year award is to honor a player who has demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity by overcoming illness, physical injury, or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season,” the Associated Press stated in their revised Comeback Player of the Year criteria this year.
As you may remember, in Week 11 of the 2023 season, Burrow sustained a wrist injury that ended his season. Despite throwing just nine interceptions, he recovered in 2024 by topping the league in passing completions (460), passing attempts (652), passing yards (4,918), and passing touchdowns (43). Burrow had a season akin to MVP even though Cincinnati finished 9-8.
Saquon Barkley was named the year’s offensive player.
The Philadelphia Eagles are in the Super Bowl because of Barkley. He was the third player to win the rushing title the year after switching teams and the ninth man in NFL history to carry for 2,000 yards. In addition to scoring 15 total touchdowns, the former New York Giant led the NFL in yards from scrimmage (2,283).
Barkley carried for 119 yards during Wild Card Weekend, recorded his second 200-yard rushing performance of the season against the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round, and then ran for 118 yards and three touchdowns during the NFC Championship game. However, playoff performances are not taken into consideration for this award. Super Bowl Sunday is Saquon’s 28th birthday. What sort of enchanted show will we witness later this week?
Patrick Surtain II was named the defensive player of the year.
PS2 is among the NFL’s top cornerbacks. He set a new career best in 2024 with four interceptions, led the league in interception return yards (132), achieved double-digit passes defended (11), and recorded 45 total stops. This season, Surtain was permitted two more interceptions than 20-yard completions!
Jayden Daniels was named the offensive rookie of the year.
This year’s most predictable prize. Daniels was the one who truly took the NFL by storm in 2024, even though Bo Nix and the No. 2 overall pick were the first rookie quarterbacks in NFL history to win 10 games and record 4,000 total yards and 30 total touchdowns in a single season. He broke rookie quarterback records for completion percentage (69%) and rushing yards (891) while leading Washington from 4-13 to 12-5.
Daniels had the clutch factor of an experienced veteran while being a rookie. He defeated the Chicago Bears in Week 8 with a ridiculous Hail Mary, defeated the Eagles in Week 16 with six seconds left in the fourth quarter, defeated the Atlanta Falcons the following week in overtime, and defeated the No. 1-seeded Lions in Detroit in the divisional round after defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Wild Card Weekend. The franchise’s face has been identified by the Washington Commanders.
Jared Verse was named the year’s defensive rookie.
The Rams immediately benefited from the first-round selection from Florida State, who recorded 66 total tackles, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and 18 quarterback hits. In terms of pressures this season, he and teammate Braden Fiske both placed among the top three rookies; Verse’s 77 pressures were the second-highest number of any rookie since 2017—the year pressures were initially monitored.
Verse elevated his game in the postseason, but once more, playoff efforts are not taken into account for these honors. In the Rams’ two postseason games, he recorded six tackles, two sacks, and a score.
