With the NFL announcing the nominees for the major 2022 season awards, here’s who we like to take home the hardware for each category:
Assistant Coach of the Year
Ben Johnson – OC, Detroit Lions
DeMeco Ryans – DC, San Francisco 49ers
Shane Steichen – OC, Philadelphia Eagles
This is a tough one to pick, as all three coordinators have excelled in their current positions. So much so that they’re each being interviewed for head coaching gigs across the league. Ben Johnson helped run one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL, while Shane Steichen was key in dispelling any thought that an offense couldn’t run through Jalen Hurts.
Despite their success, DeMeco Ryans gets my vote for this season. He was the man behind a dominant 49ers defense that got production from every level. They were 1st in points against, and had the 2nd best overall defense, allowing over 20 points just 3 times this season. Unfortunately for the 49ers, Ryans likely won’t return next season as he is a lead candidate to make the transition to head coach
Winner – DeMeco Ryans
Coach Of The Year
Brian Daboll – New York Giants
Doug Pederson – Jacksonville Jaguars
Kyle Shanahan – San Francisco 49ers
Kyle Shanahan is an offensive mastermind who runs one of the scariest groups in the NFL and continuously manages to brush off major injuries like it’s nothing. But for me, this race comes down to the two coaches who did the most with the least.
Doug Pederson was brought in to right the ship after a debacle of a year under Urban Meyer and was tasked with jumpstarting Trevor Lawrence’s development. No one could have predicted that he would lead this team to the playoffs, let alone a division title and a playoff win. The work that Pederson accomplished this season sets up a Jaguars franchise to become a legitimate contender for years to come.
Brian Daboll may not have won his division, coming third in a tough NFC east, but dragging a depleted Giants roster who only managed 4 wins last season into the playoffs should be enough to earn Daboll coach of the year.
With questions at almost every position, including quarterback, Daboll did a masterful job bringing this team together, culminating in Daniel Jones’ best game as an NFL quarterback in their first playoff appearance since 2016. With the potential of another offseason of roster turnover, the Giants organization can rest easy with Daboll leading the charge.
Winner – Brian Daboll
Comeback Player of the Year
Saquon Barkley – RB, New York Giants
Christian McCaffrey – RB, San Francisco 49ers
Geno Smith – QB, Seattle Seahawks
Another tough category to judge. Geno Smith’s season was remarkable, and no one can claim that they predicted he would end the year as the Seahawks franchise single season leader in passing yards. As impressive as his season has been, it feels like a late career breakout and not necessarily a comeback.
Saquon Barkely and Christian McCaffrey both had stellar seasons after each dealt with 2 injury plagued years. While Barkley had more rushing yards in 2022, McCaffrey topped him in all-purpose yards. This is super close but if I had to choose between the two I have to give the slight edge to McCaffrey. He put up excellent numbers while playing for a subpar Panthers team, and quickly became a focal point of the dangerous 49ers defense after a midseason trade.
Winner – Christian McCaffrey
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Aidan Hutchinson – DE, Detroit Lions
Sauce Gardner – CB, New York Jets
Tariq Woolen – CB, Seattle Seahawks
Tariq Woolen deserves all the credit in the world for going from a 5th round draft pick to making the pro bowl in his first year. Aiden Hutchinson showed the tenacity and skill that proved the Lions were right in taking him 2 overall. Despite their remarkable performances, they both dealt with inconsistency, as to be expected with rookies.
Sauce Gardner, however, stepped right into the NFL and became a premier shutdown cornerback, leading the NFL with 20 pass breakups. Lining up all around the field against the best wide receivers the league had to offer, Gardner proved he was up to the task time and time again. He was also the only rookie to be selected to the first team all pro since 1981. These three are all going to wreak havoc on defense for the foreseeable future, but Garder beats them out for the award this year.
Winner – Sauce Gardner
Sauce Gardner was a three-star recruit coming out of high school.
Gardner didn’t allow a single TD in college and was drafted fourth overall in the NFL Draft.
Sauce was the only rookie selected to first team all-pro defense and is now the favorite for DROY.
What a STORY 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KGCFZnTZuO
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) January 24, 2023
Offensive Rookie Of The Year
Brock Purdy – QB, San Francisco 49ers
Kenneth Walker III – RB, Seattle Seahawks
Garrett Wilson – WR, New York Jets
All credit to Brock Purdy for what he has done, going 5-0 in the regular season after the 49ers suffered injuries to both Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo, but the sample size is just too small to seriously consider him for the award.
Personally I would have rather seen Chris Olave get a nomination. He tied the Jets’ Garrett Wilson in touchdown receptions and had 59 fewer receiving yards despite playing in 2 less games. Both receivers deserve recognition for their tremendous seasons while dealing with inadequate quarterback play.
My pick for the award however goes to Walker. The second round selection of the Seahawks was a touchdown machine once he got rolling, finishing the season in the top 10 in the league, and 11th in total rushing yards. While Wilson was a key weapon to have for whoever was suiting up at quarterback for the Jets, Walker was the guy who the Seahawks could run their offense through, opening up the play action for Geno Smith. His all around contributions to a surprising offense earn him my vote for offensive rookie of the year.
Winner – Kenneth Walker III
Defensive Player of the Year
Nick Bosa – DE, San Francisco 49ers
Chris Jones – DT, Kansas City Chiefs
Micah Parsons – OLB, Dallas Cowboys
These are three absolutely elite defensive players. Chris Jones just continues to get better with age, racking up 15.5 sacks as an interior defensive lineman. Micah Parsons is quite possibly the most dynamic defensive player the NFL has seen in quite some time. He has the ability to do it all, while racking up 14 sacks of his own.
While sacks aren’t the be all and end all for a defensive player, Nick Bosa’s 19 sacks while being the defensive leader on the best defense in football gives him the slight edge over Parsons. He wrecks plays in the backfield on a regular basis, and, despite fighting through double teams almost every snap, he still makes offensive coordinators sweat.
Winner – Nick Bosa
Offensive Player of the Year
Tyreek Hill – WR, Miami Dolphins
Jalen Hurts – QB, Philadelphia Eagles
Justin Jefferson – WR, Minnesota Vikings
Patrick Mahomes – QB, Kansas City Chiefs
There’s been a recent trend in the past few years that the offensive player of the year award doesn’t automatically go to the quarterback that inevitably wins the MVP (spoiler alert). I think that trend continues this year.
With all due respect to Jalen Hurts, who’s late season injury might have cost him his chance at both awards, and to Tyreek Hill, who had a stellar first season in Miami, Justin Jefferson’s dominance wins him the award in a tight race over Patrick Mahomes.
His ability to take over games from the wide receiver position is unmatched. Although he didn’t lead the league in receiving touchdowns this season, he ran away with virtually every other receiving category and proved week after week that he is virtually matchup proof.
Winner – Justin Jefferson
Most Valuable Player
Josh Allen – QB, Buffalo Bills
Joe Burrow – QB, Cincinnati Bengals
Jalen Hurts – QB, Philadelphia Eagles
Justin Jefferson – WR, Minnesota Vikings
Patrick Mahomes – QB, Kansas City Chiefs
If the voting process continued into the postseason, this award could very well be handed to Joe Burrow for what he has done the past few weeks. However it’s a regular season award, and Burrow’s slow start might have given the eventual winner too much of a head start to catch up.
Alternatively, Josh Allen finished off the season with inconsistent performances and too many turnovers to steal the trophy away. Jalen Hurts had an excellent season, but between missing games to injury and the Eagles choosing to rely solely on the run game in others, he probably takes his name out of the running.
As outlined above, Justin Jefferson had another dominant season working as the league’s number one wide receiver. The reality is Patrick Mahomes fully deserves to win his second MVP trophy. After losing Tyreek Hill in the offseason the Chiefs still decided to ignore the run game for the most part and rely heavily on the Texas Tech alum.
Mahomes led the league in yards and passing touchdowns. In fact, he threw a passing touchdown in every game this season, with essentially only Travis Kelce to act as a reliable target. We sometimes forget how fantastic Mahomes truly is because we have become accustomed to his excellence, but he should be going home with his second MVP trophy this year.
Winner – Patrick Mahomes
-Devon Gallant
Twitter: @DevGallant
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.