Predicting every significant end-of-season NFL award winner before Week 1.
Short of winning the Super Bowl, the greatest achievement an NFL player can receive after a long year is an end-of-season award. These awards go to the league’s most outstanding players and coaches and can be unpredictable. No one saw Lamar Jackson or Stephon Gilmore taking home hardware last season, but both players won major awards as the league MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively.
Despite the unpredictable nature of the end-of-season NFL awards, looking at the contenders and predicting which players will be in the mix and win the award is valuable. It gives us an idea of where some of the best stand coming into the year.
Subsequently, we’re going to make predictions for every major NFL award in the 2020 season, starting as we should with MVP.
NFL MVP: Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks
I bet you were expecting Patrick Mahomes. While the reigning Super Bowl champion is one of the favorites to win the NFL MVP, Wilson is the best active quarterback without one. Drew Brees also has a legendary career but the 41-year-old isn’t winning any end-of-season hardware. Meanwhile, Wilson is in his prime and consistently hears his names in MVP debates.
The Seahawks recently retooled their team, but Wilson continues carrying the organization to ten-win seasons and playoff appearances. While Mahomes and Jackson both put together spectacular performances, no player means more to his team than Wilson. If the Seahawks win the NFC West this season, toppling the San Francisco 49ers, Wilson deserves the MVP.
At this point, no one expects a running back or wide receiver to win the MVP. As Adrian Peterson proved in 2012, it would take at least a 2,000-yard performance to steal the award from quarterbacks. Despite the stardom of players like Saquon Barkley, Nick Chubb, Ezekiel Elliott, Derrick Henry, and Christian McCaffrey, I don’t see a running back matching Peterson’s career year. No wide receiver has ever won the Associated Press MVP.
Outside of the main quarterbacks competing at the top of the pack, Tom Brady and Deshaun Watson deserve some attention. Brady is playing in a loaded offensive system with a quarterback guru at head coach. Meanwhile, Watson is knocking on the doorstep of the league’s elite quarterbacks.