2023 NFL Award Predictions

With just the Super Bowl left to play, the NFL season is pretty much in the books and it’s time to announce the award winners for each major award. We’ll be breaking down our predictions for who should win each award this year.

MVP: Lamar Jackson

Since early on in the season, Lamar Jackson has been the frontrunner for the MVP. He had one of the best seasons of his career with a team that had significant injuries in their running game from early on. Lamar Jackson had a lot more pressure to succeed and did just that. Lamar was the key reason that their offense was still able to produce and was pretty much a one-man show on that side of the field. 

Coach of the Year: Dan Campbell

The Detroit Lions won their first playoff game in over 30 years and a lot of that can be attributed to the coaching of Dan Campbell. He brought a new culture that Detroit hasn’t seen in years. Not only did Detroit win a playoff game, they won two making it to the NFC Championship game and came up just short of making it to the Super Bowl. There is a lot of hope for the future of Detroit and Dan Campbell has made that possible. 

Offensive Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey

CMC had a monster season tying Lenny Moore for the most consecutive games with a touchdown all-time. CMC finished with 21 touchdowns on the year, tying Raheem Mostert for the most by any player this season. But it was McCaffrey’s yard production that sets him apart from Mostert and all other players with over 2,000 yards from scrimmage on the year to eclipse his phenomenal year.

Defensive Player of the Year: TJ Watt

In arguably the closest award race this year, the defensive player of the year has several solid award nominees. All nominees had great seasons, but we have to give the edge to TJ Watt to earn his second defensive player of the year award after having a strong 19 sack season. Falling just short is DaRon Bland of the Cowboys who came out of nowhere to have 9 interceptions with 5 of them being returned for a touchdown. 

Comeback Player of the Year: Damar Hamlin

After an unfortunate incident saw Damar Hamlin go unresponsive, thanks to medical first responders, he was saved and all he could think about doing despite nearing death was think about getting back out on the field. He did just that this past season to everyone’s surprise and that feat alone should net him the comeback player of the year award.

Offensive Rookie of the Year: CJ Stroud

Despite the incredible record breaking year from Puka Nacua, it won’t be enough to win rookie of the year as this will go to Texans quarterback CJ Stroud who had a season for himself. If it was another year, Nacua would be the favorite, but Stroud led the rebuilding Texans to the playoffs and led the league in yards averaged per game for players who played 10 or more games. Stroud had over 4,000 yards on the season and despite the young roster around him, he made the most of it and looked like a seasoned vet out there.  

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Will Anderson Jr.

Staying in Houston, on the other end of the spectrum, we have Will Anderson Jr winning defensive rookie of the year. Anderson Jr. finished with 45 tackles and 7 sacks on the year which was better than that of Jalen Carter who had 33 and 6 respectively. Anderson Jr and Stroud sweep the rookie of the year awards for Houston.