2025 NFL Award Predictions: Preseason Edition

The 2025 NFL Season is about to begin and each year, we take a look at future projections for the year. We’ll be breaking down each of the top NFL Awards and our predictions for who’s going to come out on top for each. 

MVP: Lamar Jackson

This year’s MVP race is going to be a tight-knit one between three very talented quarterbacks. Two of which have already won this award in the past. This year, it’s going to be between 2-time winner Lamar Jackson, the reigning award winner Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow. It’s going to be one of these 3 quarterbacks that play in the Super Bowl this year and the one that does so will win this award. The Bills have a shot, the Bengals defense will blow it for them, but it’s the Ravens that put Lamar Jackson in front and help him earn his 3rd coveted MVP award. He’ll join a prestigious club of only 6 players to accomplish such a feat. But, what’s more important for Jackson is winning his first Super Bowl and if he pulls that feat off, there’s no reason for anyone other than him to win the award. Making it to the Super Bowl alone, which I have faith that the Ravens will do, will be enough, but the big game will be the true test to his illustrious career. 

Offensive Player of the Year: Ja’Marr Chase

After finishing 3rd place in the Offensive Player of the Year award voting last year, this year, it’s time that Ja’Marr Chase takes home the hardware. Last year, Chase had his best season yet as he led the league in receptions, yards, and receiving touchdowns. His official numbers were 127 receptions, 1,708 yards, and a whopping 17 touchdowns. Even if he repeats those numbers, that should be enough to earn him the award unless Saquon Barkley goes nuclear again. With the Bengals defense somehow getting worse in the offseason, every game is going to be a shootout. It’s going to force Joe Burrow to sling the ball and to his favorite target, Ja’Marr Chase. There’s a chance that Chase can top his performance from last year and potentially close in on the all-time single-season receiving record that Calvin Johnson holds. 

Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett

Arguably the closest award race this year is for Defensive Player of the Year. There’s easily a dozen different guys that can end up winning this award. Going off of recent trends to narrow it down, it’s more likely to be a pass rusher to win the award despite Patrick Surtain II winning it last year. The top 5 pass rushers that are going to be in contention for the award this year are Micah Parsons, Myles Garrett, Aidan Hutchinson, Trey Hendrickson, & TJ Watt. It really is going to come down to who has the most sacks at the end of the year. Last year, Hendrickson led the league, but he hasn’t had as much practice with his contract holdout and thinks he’ll get off to a slower start as a result. Same goes for Parsons who’s going to need to adapt to the Packers defense. Hutchinson concerns me with coming off a brutal leg injury. That leaves Garrett and Watt, two that have duked it out for the award in the past. This year, giving a slight edge to Myles Garrett to win the award.  

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tet McMillan

There are a lot of very talented young rookies who can earn the Offensive Rookie of the Year award and it should be one of the closer races with 4 different positions in the mix. At quarterback, you have Cam Ward, running backs Ashton Jeanty, TreVeyon Henderson, & Omarion Hampton, wide receiver Tet McMillan, and even at tight end, a sneaky contender is Tyler Warren. The quarterbacks are always the favorite here, but this year, it’s the running backs and Tet that really impress me. Jeanty is obviously the favorite amongst many, but with how even the 3 running backs are, I think it’s Tet’s workload that pushes him through as the winner. With no real threat for target share, Tet is going to be highly used. We’ve already seen that from him in preseason in the few drives he did play that he was the clear favorite. It would be no surprise if Tet had 75  catches for over 1,000 yards this year. 

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Abdul Carter

If there was a single rookie of the year award, it might have gone to Travis Hunter who plays both offense and defense. We just don’t know the extent of which role that he will play more and how the Jaguars will use him in each. The pro level is much tougher than the collegiate level, so it’ll be interesting to see how he is used. If he played as a defensive back full-time only, I’d slot him here for the award, but we know that won’t be the case. With that being said, the next best defensive player is Abdul Carter by a mile. Carter joins a Giants pass rush alongside Kayvon Thibodeaux to be a young dynamic duo. I love the future of the Giants defense with the investments they’ve made and Carter should continue his dominance in the NFL and was the #1 overall rated prospect in the draft.

Comeback Player of the Year: Aidan Hutchinson

Unfortunately during week 5 of the season, EDGE rusher Aidan Hutchinson went down with a brutal leg injury that left him sidelined for the remainder of the season. This offseason he’s been continuing to work on getting back in shape and should be ready to go for week 1. He was on pace for a record-shattering season with 19 tackles and 7.5 sacks through 5 games. In one game alone, he had 4.5 sacks. He would’ve been the favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year had he not gotten hurt. He’s still in the running for the coveted award this year, but he’ll settle for Comeback Player of the Year and hope to get the award when fully healthy in 2026. 

Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel

One thing I love about the Coach of the Year award is it doesn’t always go to the coach of the best team. This year, I think there’s a strong chance, it goes to a team that barely squeaks in the playoffs, if not, misses it entirely. That team is the New England Patriots and head coach Mike Vrabel. The Patriots learned their lesson in year one of Drake Maye and that is they need to protect the quarterback. The Patriots spent premium draft capital on LSU lineman Will Campbell, OSU running back TreVeyon Henderson, and then signed Stefon Diggs. Mike Vrabel is also the so-called “Quarterback Whisperer” and we’re going to see that in action this year. The revamped Patriots offense, new playcalling on offense, and another year under his belt for Drake Maye, it’s going to be a significant step up for the Patriots. I have high hopes for them and expect them to have their first winning season since 2021. That transformation alone, even if they finish 10-7 or 9-8, should be enough to have Vrabel win this award.