We’re 10 weeks into the season, and while teams battle for playoff spots atop their division, some individuals have stood out in the process. A lot can change in just eight weeks, but here are my award predictions for the 2021-22 NFL season.
NFL Coach of the Year
The favorite for this award right now is Arizona’s head coach Kliff Kingsbury. But with the Cardinals ailing from several injuries offensively, it seems as if there is an opening for the top spot. My pick would go to Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who even after the loss of star running back Derrick Henry in Week 8 has led the team to two wins over competitive teams in the Rams and Saints. With their rest-of-season schedule looking extremely light, the Titans look primed for a strong end to the season, and Vrabel deserves a lot of credit for it.
NFL Comeback Player of the Year
While I love what Joe Burrow has done coming off last season’s ACL tear, the pick here has to be Dak Prescott. Prescott has thrown for 2,341 yards on a 70.3% completion percentage while leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 6-2 record when he starts. He has also thrown 20 touchdown passes to just five interceptions. Burrow will likely be in the running for many awards later in his career, but Prescott’s ability to hop right back in and lead the Cowboys to a potential division win is simply too much to ignore.
NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year
The latest rookie class has certainly impressed on the defensive side of the ball to start the season, but Micah Parsons’ ability to transform the Cowboys’ defense into one of the better units in the NFL has to be the main talking point here. Dallas added Parsons with the 12th overall pick in the NFL Draft, and he has since put up six sacks, 58 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Parsons looks primed to be a major part of this defense for many years to come.
NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
It almost seems as if this award is a photocopy of last year’s Offensive Rookie of the Year race. While plenty of rookies impressed, this award comes down to Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals and Mac Jones of the New England Patriots. Chase is currently slotted in as the favorite, but there’s only so much impact a wide receiver has in comparison to a quarterback. Jones has completed 69% of his passes for 2,333 yards and 13 touchdowns this season while leading the Patriots to a 6-4 record after they went 7-9 last season. This award is truly a tossup, but I have to go with who is impacting his team the most, and that’s got to be Jones.
NFL Defensive Player of the Year
As always, this race is extremely close this season. Aaron Donald is always in the discussion, but the numbers from T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett are hard to ignore. With 12.5 and 13 sacks, respectively, both are tops in the league at getting to the quarterback but are also tied for first with 13 tackles for loss. Truthfully, this may be even more of a coin flip than OROY, but I think the edge goes to Garrett and his 37 QB pressures to Watt’s 27. It’s super close and could go either way, but Garrett has carried Cleveland’s defense at times this season and he deserves the award this go-around.
NFL Offensive Player of the Year
Let’s not overthink this one. It’s Cooper Kupp. Before Henry’s injury, it was a pretty close battle. But with the star running back out for what may be the rest of the season, Kupp becomes the runaway favorite. Kupp is on pace to shatter receiving records, posting 1,141 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in just 10 games played. If that wasn’t enough, he also leads the league with 85 receptions. With seven games still left to play, Kupp is on pace for a final slash line of 144/1939/17, which would rank second, second and sixth, respectively, all-time.
NFL MVP
The MVP award is so hard to predict in the NFL due to how volatile the rankings are each week, and while many deserve the award, I think one quarterback deserves it more than the others. At 44 years old, Tom Brady has shown no signs of aging, leading the Buccaneers to a 6-3 record despite an ailing defense and two of his top receiving options — Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski — being out with injury. He’s completed 67.4% of his passes for 2,870 yards and 27 touchdowns while throwing just seven interceptions. He’s coming off a rough outing in Week 10, but once this team returns to full health, he’ll be back at the top of every voter’s MVP ballot.
