With the 2024 regular season in the books, it's time to fill out my awards ballot. I checked my picks after Week 4 and at the midway point of the season, but with all 272 games now complete after Sunday's blowout win by the Lions over the Vikings, let's wrap up our look at what we saw during the campaign.
At least one race came down to the last game of the season. There was only one obvious winner across these various awards, and there were a handful where I could have easily justified going for the second- or third-place candidate as the winner. This was a season with very slim margins separating the best players and coaches from one another. If you're mad about your favorite player not landing in first place, keep that in mind.
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To be clear, these are my picks based on who I think should win the various awards. I'm using what I've seen and what the data suggests about this season, not who I think will win the actual awards when the league hands them out before the Super Bowl.
As usual, I'll be giving out awards for Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player. But I also have a few other awards in here as a bonus. Who's the most underrated player in football? Who had the run of the season? And what was the league's most unnecessary panic of 2024? I'll get to those frivolities as well. I'll start with an award that feels almost impossible to hand out this season:
Jump to an award:
Most Valuable Player | Best Coach
Offensive Rookie | Defensive Rookie
Offensive Player | Defensive Player
Comeback Player | Quick-hitters
Coach of the Year
There are too many candidates here. Andy Reid should get serious consideration for going 15-1 with his starters in Kansas City. Sean Payton pushed the Broncos into the postseason in a season in which they were supposed to be getting over Russell Wilson's cap hit. Dan Quinn has the Commanders in the playoffs after the team had a 4-13 record a year ago under Ron Rivera. Sean McDermott rebuilt his defense and got the Bills to 13-4. And Mike Tomlin's Steelers might have lost four straight to end the season, but they still managed to win 10 games with Wilson and Justin Fields at quarterback.
None of them made it into the top three. It's a brutal competition this season. One thing I tried to consider as a tiebreaker, as I've mentioned in my awards columns earlier this season, was how the coach's skill set directly impacted his team's performance. The Commanders ranked fourth in points per drive on offense and 22nd on defense, which hurt the candidacy for defensive-minded Quinn. (The opposite was true for Payton and the Broncos.)