The 2021 NFL Awards went down last night, as the league shone a spotlight on the best and the brightest the game has to offer. While some categories were foregone conclusions (was anyone really doubting that Parsons would win DROY?) others were still being hotly debated, including the league MVP.
Here’s who took home hardware at last night’s awards:
Defensive player of the year: T.J. Watt, LB, Steelers
Defensive rookie of the year: Micah Parsons, LB, Cowboys
Comeback player of the year: Joe Burrow, QB, Bengals
With all due respect to Dak Prescott, this was Joe Burrow’s award to lose. Leading Cincinnati to the playoffs after having his rookie year cut short due to a knee injury was nothing short of miraculous. The seeds were there for the Bengals to become a competitor eventually, but even the most die hard Cincy supporter couldn’t have seen the turnaround happening so quickly.
On the defensive side of the ball, Micah Parsons was a unanimous choice, while TJ Watt cruised to victory after tying the NFL single season sack record in 2021. Both of these were fairly straight forward selections without any other true contenders giving them a run for their money.
Walter Payton man of the year: Andrew Whitworth, OT, Rams
Coach of the year: Mike Vrabel, HC, Titans
Offensive rookie of the year: Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Bengals
Whitworth is a nice story as he heads into what could be his last game as a professional in the NFL. Already 40 years old, if he were to win the Walter Payton man of the year award, and then hoist a Lombardi trophy this Sunday you couldn’t draw up a better way to walk away from the game.
Coach of the year boiled down to Vrabel, Taylor, and LaFleur. If voting for this award included what they did in the postseason, you could argue maybe Taylor gets the nod here, but at the end of the day what Vrabel was able to accomplish in Tennessee was pretty remarkable.
The Titans used an NFL record 91 different players in 2021, and captured the AFC’s number 1 seed despite losing Derrick Henry to injury mid season and needing to retool their run heavy offense on the fly.
Chase was the logical choice amongst rookies here, but you can never be sure when it comes to voting. Many place a premium on the quarterback position, meaning that even though the eyeball test showed that Chase was by far the best rookie this year, you couldn’t count out Mac Jones as a sleeper pick. In the end the voters got it right and the Bengals rookie earned his rightful distinction.
MVP: Aaron Rodgers, QB, Packers
Offensive player of the year: Cooper Kupp, WR, Rams
While Jonathan Taylor and Tom Brady were briefly discussed as potential MVP candidates at various points this season, this really came down to Kupp vs. Rodgers. It was fairly obvious heading into this that whomever won the MVP, the other would be selected for OPOY.
Packers fans will happily tell you that voters got the decision right, but it’s far from a slam dunk argument. The 38 year old posted the 8th most passing yards, 6th most passing TD’s, and 7th best QBR rating of his career in 2021. Meanwhile Kupp had one of the best seasons by a wide receiver in NFL history winning the triple crown in the process.
The MVP is slowly becoming the “best QB” trophy as only once in the last 15 years (Adrian Peterson in 2012) has a non-QB won the award. Many wondered whether Rodgers’ win last year, coupled with his vaccination debacle early this season would work against him, but that certainly didn’t prove to be the case as he secured 39 out of a possible 50 votes.
Which would be fine if not for the fact that Tom Brady received 10, to Cooper Kupp’s 1. Rams fans could likely live with losing the MVP, but to say that there were multiple players better than Kupp this year is outright laughable.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner