Thursday night at the NFL Honors, the league recognized its big winners of the season, including MVP, Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, and 72-year-old former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who was in attendance with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordan Hudson. The two of them did not go unnoticed by the opening monologue writers for host Snoop Dogg.
The really big winners are the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, who weren’t in attendance because they are where the other 30 NFL teams all wish they were, in New Orleans getting ready for Super Bowl LIX. However, some very nice consolation prizes were handed out to many in attendance.
Most Valuable Player – Josh Allen, QB Buffalo Bills
The biggest prize of the night went to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” career of Allen now has some hardware. Allen has twice finished as the runner-up in the AFC, but has yet to play in a Super Bowl. And before Thursday, he had received MVP votes in three different seasons, but never won. The Super Bowl remains elusive, but the MVP is now his.
Paying +850 when the season began, it was a good night for Allen and all of the people who put money down on him to win six months ago. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson finished second.
One interesting note about Allen’s win is that it comes after Jackson was named First-Team All-Pro. Several of the same voters who put Jackson as First-Team over Allen, 30-18, switched their votes for MVP, with Allen getting 27 first place votes to Jackson’s 23.
Jackson is the first quarterback in 11 seasons to be First-Team All-Pro, but not MVP.
Offensive Player of the Year – Saquon Barkley, RB Philadelphia Eagles
If you rush for 2,000 yards in a season, you almost always win Offensive Player of the Year. It happened for O.J. Simpson back in 1973 when he became the first 2,000-yard rusher. Barry Sanders (1997), Terrell Davis (1998), Jamal Lewis (2003), Chris Johnson (2009), Adrian Peterson (2012), Derrick Henry (2020), and now Eagles running back Saquon Barkley all added OPOY to their incredible milestone seasons.
The lone exception was Eric Dickerson in 1984, who lost out on OPOY to Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. Dickerson set the single-season rushing record, but Marino set the single-season passing record, and even then running backs were taking a back seat to the QBs.
When the season began, Barkley was +2500 to win the award, and even as late as Week 10, he was an underdog to win it. But he is the winner, and so are his bettors.
The big and unexpected loser was Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. He led the NFL in catches (127), receiving yards (1,708), and touchdowns (17), but did not receive a single vote.
Defensive Player of the Year – Patrick Surtain II, CB Denver Broncos
Generally given to someone who makes tackles and sacks the quarterback, the Defensive Player of the Year for the 2024 regular season is Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II. Always on the other team’s top receiver – he held Chase to just three catches for 27 yards – Surtain had four interceptions and held opposing receivers to just 306 yards this season, the lowest in the NFL.
When the season began, Surtain was paying +10000 to win the award, and that ballooned to as high as +22750 the first month of the season.
Offensive Rookie of the Year – Jayden Daniels, QB Washington Commanders
The least-surprising result of the night was Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Heisman Trophy-winner became the favorite to win the award by the beginning of October, and he became the clear choice when the Commanders rolled into December as a playoff team.
However, if you put money on Daniels when the season kicked off, you got +550 on your investment.
Defensive Rookie of the Year – Jared Verse, Edge Los Angeles Rams
Turns out when the Los Angeles Rams have a first-round draft pick to use, they use it well.
Last April, Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse was the Rams first first-round pick since 2016, and he ended the season in L.A. as the team’s only Pro Bowler. Now he is the team’s first Defensive Rookie of the Year since Aaron Donald in 2014, and just the third all-time.
A bet on Verse when the season began paid +800.
Comeback Player of the Year – Joe Burrow, QB Cincinnati Bengals
This isn’t really the award you want to win more than once, but that is what happened for Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on Thursday. He won the award in 2021 after leading his team to the Super Bowl following an ACL tear, and he won the award again this season after leading the league in passing yards. This time he was returning from season-ending wrist surgery.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was the +140 favorite to win the award when the season began, and Burrow was second at +300.
Coach of the Year – Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota Vikings
So many possibilities for NFL Coach of the Year: Dan Quinn’s turnaround in Washington, Sean Payton taking the Broncos to the playoffs, Dan Campbell continuing to roar with the Lions, and Andy Reid back again in the Super Bowl.
In the end, it was Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell taking home the honors. Minnesota lost its starting quarterback in the preseason, played in the toughest division in football, and with an over/under of 6.5 wins for the season, the Vikings won 14.
O’Connell was paying +2000 to win the award when the season kicked off in September.
With over 25 years of experience as a distinguished sports writer for renowned platforms such as Fox Sports and ESPN, Kyle Garlett is a sports betting specialist who has been at the forefront of documenting the global surge in sports betting and online gaming. Based in Denver, Colorado, Kyle hosts an NFL betting YouTube show and podcast. Kyle also has two sports books published by HarperCollins.
Kyle graduated the Azusa Pacific University in 1996 with a B.A. Degree in Communication and Journalism.
