play1:02Seahawks clinch NFC’s top seed with win over 49ersThe Seahawks defeat the 49ers 13-3 to win the NFC West and secure the NFC’s top seed.
play0:29Myles Garrett breaks single-season record with 23rd sackMyles Garrett sacks Joe Burrow to break the NFL single-season sack record.
play1:25Why Mike Clay backs JSN for fantasy’s breakout playerMike Clay shares why he’s picking Jaxon Smith-Njigba over Drake Maye as fantasy football’s breakout player.
Drake Maye throws a dime to Rhamondre Stevenson for a TD (0:17)Drake Maye throws a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rhamondre Stevenson to give the Patriots a 24-10 lead vs. the Dolphins. (0:17)
Seahawks clinch NFC’s top seed with win over 49ersThe Seahawks defeat the 49ers 13-3 to win the NFC West and secure the NFC’s top seed.
Myles Garrett breaks single-season record with 23rd sackMyles Garrett sacks Joe Burrow to break the NFL single-season sack record.
Why Mike Clay backs JSN for fantasy’s breakout playerMike Clay shares why he’s picking Jaxon Smith-Njigba over Drake Maye as fantasy football’s breakout player.
Mike Clay shares why he’s picking Jaxon Smith-Njigba over Drake Maye as fantasy football’s breakout player.
The 2025 NFL regular season is officially in the books. Before we start looking forward to the postseason, though, this is the last Monday we’ll spend summating what we saw in the regular season.
It’s time to hand out my awards for the 2025 season. These aren’t predictions for who will win the hardware when these awards are announced next month. Instead, these are my picks for who I believe deserves each of these awards based on what I’ve seen this season.
We’ll hit Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, the new Protector of the Year honor and Offensive and Defensive Rookie and Player of the Year. And of course, I’ll finish up with my MVP pick.
Jump to an award: DROY | OROY | Protector of the Year Comeback POY | Coach of the Year DPOY | OPOY | MVP
It wasn’t really a banner season for the defensive class of 2025. First-round picks such as Jaguars receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter, Cardinals defensive tackle Walter Nolen III and 49ers defensive lineman Mykel Williams missed significant time with injuries to either begin or end the season. Players who got off to promising starts, such as Cardinals corner Will Johnson and Eagles linebacker Jihaad Campbell, weren’t able to keep that level of play up over the entire season.
There’s still a very good pass-rush prospect here. Pearce’s pressure rate of 13.5% is above league average, though it doesn’t lead this draft class. Pearce has 18 quick pressures, per NFL Next Gen Stats, which is second among rookies but much closer to players such as Nic Scourton or Donovan Ezeiruaku (who each have 12) than the player atop that leaderboard. Speaking of that player …
If you put a ton of stock in Next Gen Stats pressure metrics, Carter is already a superstar. The Giants rookie has a whopping 48 quick pressures this season. That’s more than any other player in football, let alone rookies. His 10.3% quick pressure rate is second in the NFL among regular defenders, trailing only Broncos standout Nik Bonitto. ESPN’s pass rush win rate has Carter just behind Will Anderson Jr. and Myles Garrett near the very top of the leaderboard.
Are the pressure numbers inflated? Maybe a little bit. Carter has 11 unblocked pressures this season, which is the fourth most in the league. At the same time, though, other Giants have benefited from Carter’s efforts. While the first-rounder has only those four sacks, he has created 10.5 sacks for himself and his teammates this season. Meanwhile, teammate Brian Burns has 16.5 sacks to his name but only seven sacks created.
The 33rd pick was rangy and ever-present for an excellent Browns defense. Schwesinger made 15.3% of the tackles in Browns games before hitting injured reserve with a quad injury, which was the sixth-highest rate in the NFL. The 22-year-old was also a very sound tackler; even while running one of the highest tackle rates in the league, Schwesinger missed on only 6% of his tackle attempts, an above-average rate for players who got to ball carriers as often as he did this season.
His nine tackles for loss against the run were tied for fourth in the league, a particularly impressive feat given that Myles Garrett was one of the three players ahead of him. Schwesinger also picked off two passes and managed 2.5 sacks and nine knockdowns as a blitzer. His range slipped a bit after he suffered a high ankle sprain in midseason, but Schwesinger is already one of the better off-ball linebackers in the NFL and should have been a Pro Bowl pick in the AFC.
Of all the player awards this season, Offensive Rookie of the Year might be the tightest race of the lot. There are plenty of viable candidates, but very few of them were consistent contributors throughout the season. If you built a receiver out of Emeka Egbuka’s first half and Luther Burden III’s second half, he would have a legitimate case for Rookie of the Year, but neither player did enough during their weaker halves to make it to the top three.
I ended up with four candidates for three spots, with the third-place nod ending up as a battle between two quarterbacks.
Tyler Shough’s impressive second half with the Saints has deservedly earned the second-round pick Offensive Rookie of the Year consideration. In comparing him to Dart, who had been the most productive rookie quarterback for most of the season, it’s fair to suggest that Shough has been a slightly better passer, while Dart has made up that difference and then some with his legs.
Dart has been a more efficient quarterback by Total QBR while starting four more games and facing a more difficult schedule. Shough posted a better record, although his four-game winning streak did include wins over the Jets and Titans. Both players have had to deal with injuries on offense. Shough might have been ahead of Dart before Week 18, when he had a rough game against the Falcons, but the margin was thin here. Both guys should get a full season as their teams’ starters in 2026.
Warren nearly went tape-to-tape as the Offensive Rookie of the Year, but he slowed down as the season wore along. He averaged 57.6 receiving yards per game and 2.0 yards per route run during the first half of the season, but that fell to 37.4 receiving yards per game and 1.4 yards per route run from Week 10 onward, with little of the verticality we saw from him earlier in the season.
The only rookie to finish over 1,000 rushing or receiving yards did just enough to claim the Rookie of the Year nod for me. McMillan reached 100 receiving yards only twice, but he was consistently the most impactful receiver in Carolina’s offense and the player Bryce Young looked to when the Panthers needed a big play.
The oft-injured Williams was healthy all season before suffering a hamstring injury on the opening snap of the Niners’ Week 17 win over the Bears, and he then missed the regular-season finale. I think Tunsil was every bit as good as Williams over the entire season and potentially better as a pass blocker, but Williams wins the tiebreaker by simply being on the field more often.
Playing in a dropback scheme that ran play-action at one of the lowest rates in the league — without tight end George Kittle for long stretches of time and alongside multiple different left guards — Williams was one of the few stars the 49ers could call upon for the vast majority of the season.
Nelson and Joe Thuney were the two starting guards who didn’t allow a single sack all season. They each allowed just four quick pressures to opposing pass rushers. Nelson was one-on-one against defenders slightly more often, and while Thuney is such a consummate pro and played a huge role in Chicago’s resurgent run game, Nelson is just the tiniest bit more spectacular given his ability to get on the edge.
Brewer is the closest active player to what Jason Kelce was at his peak for the Eagles: an athletic, undersized center who opens up all kinds of possibilities for what the Dolphins can do with their rushing attack. He has been so much fun to watch on zone runs and when the Dolphins get him to the edge on counter and pin/pull concepts.
After missing virtually all of his rookie season because of a knee injury, the 2024 first-round pick returned to the lineup and locked in as Pittsburgh’s right tackle. Fautanu more than held his own, as he ranked 21st in pass block win rate among tackles with 200 pass-rush wins or losses. Along with center Zach Frazier and right guard Mason McCormick, the right side of the Pittsburgh line has three ascending players in their second year of pro football.
Returning from a serious leg injury, Hutchinson looked every bit as impressive as he did before surgery. He set career highs in sacks (14.5) and knockdowns (35) during a difficult season for the Lions, all while facing the seventh-highest rate of chips or double-teams of any edge rusher. The No. 2 pick in 2022 easily deserved the four-year, $180 million extension he signed in October.
Last season was bleak for Olave, who dealt with concussions while playing for a losing Saints team. By the end of the season, the Saints had shut down their star wide receiver, who admitted that he considered retirement during the offseason. It would have been a shame to see such a talented wideout leave the game so early in his career, and in 2025, Olave was able to reemerge as one of the best receivers in the league.
I also want to reward coaches who drive performance on their preferred side of the ball, because it seems likely they have more control over what happens there. Rewarding Nagy as Coach of the Year when Vic Fangio’s defense was driving the 2018 Bears to the postseason is one we look back at that didn’t make a ton of sense.
Last season, Kevin O’Connell won Coach of the Year for leading a Vikings team with Sam Darnold at quarterback to a 14-3 record. This season, I’m arguing that the guy whose team has a 14-3 record and Sam Darnold at quarterback should also be honored. If Saturday night’s game for the NFC West title was a battle for the top seed and a first-round bye, it might have been for the Coach of the Year award, too.