Watching “ABC’s Monday Night Football” game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, I was moved – yes, moved – to write this column, because these two teams are supposed to be the class of the National Football League.
And I agree that honestly, for the most part, they are. You could argue that, if the San Francisco 49ers had not had a few injuries to Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, and Trent Williams, there might not have been a three-game losing streak there.
That aside, there was, and the Chiefs and the Eagles have been the two best teams in AFC and the NFC, respectively.
We’re a little over halfway, but let’s pass out some “little over” midway-through-the-season awards, shall we? Some of them will be the conventional, most valuable player awards. And some of them won’t.
And I’ll give you a hint: some of these you’re gonna like… and some of them, you WON’T.
I’ll save the bigger awards for last, and spread some of the more unconventional awards throughout.
How about let’s start with one of the more controversial awards?
Biggest whiner award: PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY. How many times after an incomplete pass, a non-call, or when something just doesn’t go his way, do we see the Whitehouse, Texas native throw his hands up looking for a call? He usually gets it, is all I’ll say. We know how talented he is, there’s no question. He’s great. He’s the league’s current golden boy, like Tom Brady before him, like Peyton Manning, like Brett Favre, like Troy Aikman, like Joe Montana (albeit waaaay more quietly), like Terry Bradshaw, et al. But when it comes for asking, begging for a call on the field, Mahomes, though, is far more over the top. There were a couple of times even Monday night against Philly when he raised his hands, he drew the call (specifically the roughing-the-passer call against Fletcher Cox, and Cox should have known better than to even touch Mahomes in that situation). We love Mahomes as a player, but he’s a whiner, a crybaby. And it works for him.
Latest bloomer award: JOSHUA DOBBS, QUARTERBACK, MINNESOTA. Dobbs, once a Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick, bounced around the league, is literally a rocket scientist, and started this season with the Arizona Cardinals, filling in for Kyler Murray, who suffered a torn ACL late last season. Dobbs helped the Cardinals engineer an early-season upset of the Dallas Cowboys, and while he couldn’t do the same in San Francisco, he helped the Cardinals keep things respectable in a couple of games. He was shipped to the Vikings when Kirk Cousins suffered a torn Achilles – and doggone it, helped the Vikings beat Atlanta upon his arrival. They had won five straight before losing at Denver last week. And there’s definitely a winnable game coming up this week, a home game against Chicago. Dobbs has a chance to lead the team to the playoffs. All of this, and he was drafted in 2017.
AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year award: C.J. STROUD, QUARTERBACK, HOUSTON. Raise your hands out there, anyone, who thought the Houston Texans would be in playoff contention right now. And after that, those who have them up, keep ‘em up if you thought that the rookie quarterback from Ohio State would be the REASON why! Stroud has not only shown the poise of a 2-3-year starter, but he’s putting up those numbers. He’s second – SECOND – in the entire league behind Washington’s Sam Howell in passing yards (2,962). He’s completed 62 percent of his passes for 17 touchdowns and just five interceptions. His line has protected him pretty well (22 sacks, not great, but not horrible – certainly a ton less than Howell has been sacked, 51 times), and the Texans are 6-4, just one game out of the AFC South lead, behind Jacksonville.
NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year Award: PUKA NACUA, WIDE RECEIVER, LOS ANGELES RAMS. This young man, drafted out of BYU in April, was born just four months before Sept. 11, 2001. He is sixth in the league in receptions this year – he’s got 69 catches for 897 yards (averages 13 yards a catch) and three touchdowns. The Rams are 4-6, and behind both San Francisco and Seattle in the NFC West, and coach Sean McVay said Monday that Nacua was injured in Sunday’s home win against Seattle, a shoulder injury. Not sure just how injured he is; we’ll see in the coming days. But he does deserve this award, at least so far.
AFC Defensive Rookie of the Year Award: WILL ANDERSON, DEFENSIVE END, HOUSTON. I suppose this officially makes the move that the Texans made to trade back up to get Anderson at number three one of the best moves in the draft in many years – at least, so far. Anderson has vast potential, but has had a good, but not incredible year so far: 33 tackles, three sacks. Most of the defensive rookies that have been fantastic have been in the NFC. But we do expect him to make a push as the Texans play more important games down the stretch, especially since they look to make a playoff push, given his pedigree as a defensive leader at Alabama.
NFC Defensive Rookie of the Year Award: DEVON WITHERSPOON, CORNERBACK, SEATTLE. This one was close. I was highly, highly tempted to pick Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, and I absolutely didn’t avoid picking him over the controversies at Georgia. I picked Witherspoon, the rookie out of Illinois, because he absolutely deserves it. He’s only got one pick, but he’s defended 13 passes, he’s got 38 solo tackles through 10 games, one interception and one forced fumble.
Best free agent signing: JAVON HARVRAVE, DEFENSIVE TACKLE, SAN FRANCISCO. This one is based on a couple of things: not just one what Hargrave has done so far, but primarily on what Hargrave has the chance to do – and what the 49ers are keeping him from doing: as in, who they’re keeping him from doing it for. Last year, Niners quarterback Brock Purdy was injured very, very early in the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia and San Francisco was basically hit like a boxer with a technical knock-out. This year, after the three-game losing streak, the 49ers likely will have to go back to Philly in the playoffs, and they didn’t want to have to face Hargrave. So they SIGNED him. Hargrave so far for the Niners has 20 solo tackles and 4.5 sacks, a part of one of the league’s best defensive fronts. And most importantly, is not helping the Philadelphia Eagles in any way.
Worst free agent signing: ODELL BECKHAM JR., WIDE RECEIVER, BALTIMORE. The Ravens’ receiver is having far from an awful season – after all, he’s got 24 catches already – but for his name, reputation, and stature in the league, for $18 million on a one-year deal, the Ravens had to be hoping for more than 24 catches already. You know what I mean? He didn’t catch his first touchdown with the Ravens until Nov. 5, his 31st birthday. He now has two touchdowns this year on those 24 catches, and 374 yards to go with it in his ninth season in the league. He does have the Super Bowl win (with the Rams a few years back) that many players crave. How many more years will OBJ hang on? Let’s hope he does come back and produce more big highlight catches like the one that made him famous (Odell Beckham Jr. Makes Catch of the Year! ).
AFC Offensive Player of the Year: TUA TAGOVAILOA, QUARTERBACK, MIAMI. He hasn’t played well in every single game, particularly in a loss at Buffalo, but his numbers have been outstanding, and he’s poised – if he can lead the Dolphins to a win over the Jets at MetLife on Friday – to put major distance between his own team and the Bills. For the record, Tua has completed right at 70 percent of his throws (only Brock Purdy and Dak Prescott have been more accurate) for 21 touchdowns (second only to Josh Allen), eight interceptions, and a rating of 106 (again, second only to Purdy).
NFC Offensive Player of the Year: CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY, RUNNING BACK, SAN FRANCISCO. There’s not much more to say than he almost tied an NFL record with touchdowns in 17 consecutive games, but he’s the league’s leading rusher (825 yards), has the second-most carries (174, behind Josh Jacobs’ 200), has the sixth-longest run from scrimmage this year (65 yards), is third in rushing touchdowns (nine; only Raheem Mostert (11) and Baltimore’s Gus Edwards (11) have more); he averages 85 rushing yards a game; and most of all, he leads the league in rushing first downs (48). He’s also 10th in the league in receiving first downs, 13th in the league in touchdown catches (five), and 10th in the league in YAC yards (after the catch, 336). Think the Niners are glad they made this trade a little more than a year ago?
AFC Defensive Player of the Year: MYLES GARRETT, DEFENSIVE END, CLEVELAND. It’s hard to argue this one. Garrett leads the league with 13 sacks. He has 11 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. And here’s the most important stat: he’s the best player on a Browns’ defense that has put Cleveland in position to contend for the AFC North Division title with a freaking musical-chair quarterback position. The Browns are 7-3, for crying out loud. THE BROWNS. Now tell me Garrett doesn’t deserve the AFC DPOY. I’ll wait.
NFC Defensive Player of the Year: FRED WARNER, LINEBACKER, SAN FRANCISCO. This one takes a little more opening of the mind, but Warner is the unquestioned captain of the toughest, most hard-hitting defensive unit in all of football. Take the game against the Cincinnati Bengals about a month ago out of their season – who knows what was going on there – and the 49ers’ defense is absolutely, without question the league’s most fierce. Warner plays like a man possessed, and leads the attacking defense, and after the recently-announced injury to safety Talanoa Hufanga (a torn ACL), it looks like Warner will have to play even more swarming-to-the-ball defense. He has 90 tackles this year, 57 solo, 2.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and three interceptions.
Coach of the Year Award: KEVIN STEFANSKI, CLEVELAND. For reasons I mentioned just two items above with Myles Garrett, I have to give it to Stefanski. The Browns seem to be doing what they’re doing with stone knives and bearskins. Other candidates would be Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota), turning things around after an awful start; Sean Payton, for the same in Denver; and believe it or not, in my opinion, Robert Saleh for navigating through absolute awful circumstances to have the New York Jets respectable when they should probably have one or two wins.
NFL Most Valuable Player Award: JALEN HURTS, QUARTERBACK, PHILADELPHIA. I know, I know: easy cop-out to give it to the quarterback of the team with the league’s best record. But Hurts is doing a good-enough job on the field for the Eagles to keep on winning, and winning, and winning. He’s not the best overall quarterback – that’s probably Mahomes. He’s not the most accurate: that’s probably Purdy. And both of them – yes, Purdy – I considered for this award. But Hurts does have that winning intangible he had at Alabama and at Oklahoma, and it might just be enough this year to get the Eagles a Lombardi.
