NFL Offensive Player of the Year: Breece Hall
Honestly, I could just insert whoever wins the MVP here. Since I have Mahomes as the MVP, I’ll bypass naming him OPOY as well. When Brady and Rodgers won it in 2017 and 2020, respectively, a running back won the award. I know that doesn’t mean it’ll happen again if Mahomes wins it — he’d have to put on a record-breaking season — but it makes sense if Mahomes fatigue runs rampant among award voters.
Not so surprisingly, a wide receiver has won this award only three times, once by Michael Thomas and twice by Jerry Rice. Running backs still seem to get credit and, considering the MVP is almost guaranteed to be a quarterback, it seems possible a runner takes this home in five years. This may be the hardest award to name because the shelf life of running backs has famously declined in recent years.
Who’s to say young stars like Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley will still be at the top of their games in five seasons? Of the last five running backs to win OPOY, the only one to win it beyond his fifth season in the league was Adrian Peterson, who won it in his sixth year.
This makes me want to choose a rookie running back like Najee Harris, though a likelier answer may be a current player in college. I said I don’t want to dip into non-NFL players, but I’ll boldly plant my flag on the nation’s leading rusher in 2020: Iowa State’s Breece Hall. (No way this backfires, right?) This also means I’d pick Hall for the Ground Player of the Year.
Other Active Candidates: Najee Harris, Jonathan Taylor, Mahomes, Lance