The 2025 NFL season is sadly over, but the positive flip to that is that we’re in playoff season now and the NFL playoffs are one of/if not the most exciting time on the entire sports calendar year. It’s at least my favorite. We’ve got Wild Card weekend kicking off in just a few hours at this point and I’m itching to talk about some football so take a walk down recent memory lane with me as we look back on the season that just was, and I give you my picks and nominees for the 2025 NFL Season Awards! Quick sidenote, but these are just my personal picks. Not saying you have to take them as the ultimate word of God or whatever. These are nearly all up for discussion/debate as most awards and things of this nature are so let me know some of your picks as well! Also, the 3 honorable mentions for each of the awards that I’m going to list are in ways just as deserving of the award as the person I give it to, but I cannot spend time talking about every single person or this blog would be 20 minutes long to read so, still wanted to give my quick shoutout to all of them in some way for the season that they had. Now, let’s get into it!
Rookie of the Year: Tetairoa McMillan (WR, #4, Carolina Panthers)
The Panthers offense in many ways had a bounce back year and a lot of that had to do with new additions to the lineup, notably Rico Dowdle and of course the newly drafted, Tetairoa McMillan. Tet wasted no time etching himself down as the clear WR1 for the Panthers this year and showed a lot of potential for things to come in his career with his overall speed and route running ability, allowing him to beat defenders. He’s good for over the middle slant routes, but he’s also a major deep ball threat and he burnt defenses multiple times this year with big open field receptions. Pretty impressive stat line for his rookie campaign this season as well, posting 70 receptions, 7 touchdowns, and 1,014 receiving yards. Any time you can throw up over 1,000 yards in your rookie year as a WR or RB that’s usually a sign of good things to come down the line. I expect those touchdown numbers to likely be upped in the coming years as well if Bryce and the offense can stay on the right path, but really only time will tell. For now though, Tetairoa McMillan is my rookie of the year for the 2025 season!
*Honorable Mentions*: (Tyler Warren, TE, #84, Indianapolis Colts), (Carson Schwesinger, LB, #49, Cleveland Browns), (Grey Zabel, LG, #76, Seattle Seahawks)
Comeback Player of the Year: Aiden Hutchinson (DE, #97, Detroit Lions)
Hutch suffered the first major injury in his NFL career last season when he tore his ACL in I believe Week 6 of the season. It was such a shame too because the Lions went on to have the best year that they’ve had in a long, long time despite him and many of their key pieces on the defense getting injured. Well things looked entirely different coming into this season for the Lions, a brand-new offensive and defensive coordinator were added to the staff after the exit of Johnson and Glenn, but key pieces like Aiden Hutchinson were ready to return to the field as well, so they were an intriguing team to watch coming into the year. Things didn’t necessarily go the Lions way this season in a lot of aspects, but none of that can be attributed back to Hutchinson. It’s always a worry coming off major injuries like that if the guy will still be the same player or not, but Hutch proved he was still that guy and some. He played in all 17 games this season posting 4 forced fumbles (a career high), a fumble recovery, 14.5 sacks (a career high), 54 tackles, and 35 hits on the quarterback (also a career high). The man is a menace on the defensive line and has plenty of years still in front of him if he can stay healthy.
*Honorable Mentions*: (Chris Olave, WR, #12, New Orleans Saints), (Christian McCaffery, RB, #23, San Francisco 49ers), (Dak Prescott, QB, #4, Dallas Cowboys)
Coach of the Year: Liam Coen (Jacksonville Jaguars)
This was one of the tougher categories to choose a winner for this year to be honest. There was a handful of fresh head coaches this season that went to a new team and completely shifted the culture of the entire franchise. None was maybe more impressive than Liam Coen and what he did with the Jags. I (like many people) wrote them off early this season. Liam Coen immediately became a meme upon entering Jacksonville after the extremely awkward “Duuuvallll” incident in his opening press conference, and aside from Travis Hunter there wasn’t a whole lot of fresh and new additions to the team that made you think they were going to make a complete turnaround. People had already started writing Trevor Lawrence off coming into the year as well. Then this happened. The shiny new addition to the squad (Hunter) got injured, but this team just found ways to keep on winning, and against pretty formidable opponents as well. The Jags ended up winning the AFC South with a 13-4 record (something NO ONE saw coming) and now host a playoff game this weekend against Josh Allen and the Bills, a game that I feel they have a decent chance to win really. They’re maybe the hottest team entering the playoffs. If you would’ve told me even 14 weeks ago that the Jags would be in this position right now, I’d call you crazy, but here they are, and a lot of that can be attributed to the prowess and knowledge of Liam Coen.
*Honorable Mentions*: (Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots), (Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears), (Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers)
Special Teams Player of the Year: Ka’imi Fairbairn (K, #15, Houston Texans)
Fairbairn maybe isn’t the most talked about kicker in the league, but he sneakily and quietly posted up some of the best kicker numbers in the 2025 season. He has gone on record recently saying that he tries not to focus too much on stats and just do his job, and I get that. That’s a very humble and respectable thing to say and attribute to have, but after this year maybe he should go back and look because he’s been awesome. He’s attempted 48 field goals this season (tied for most in the league), and he’s made 44 of them (the most in the league). He’s been absolutely perfect all season from 20-50 yard attempts and has only missed the 50+ long shots that he’s attempted. He’s also been perfect on XPs this season. There were a few kickers who could’ve snagged this award this year as well, most notably Dicker on the Chargers & Reichard on the Vikings. We are in the elite era of kickers right now in the NFL, we’re seeing them attempt field goals longer and longer every year and miss less and less, but I still think kickers are one of the more stressful and under-valued positions on the entire team. Kickers can make or break your team when the game comes down to crunch time so having a clutch/lockdown kicker is very important. Fairbairn was one of the clutchest and most lockdown in his position all year long, and he squeaks away with the award.
*Honorable Mentions*: (Chimere Dike, returner, #17, Tennessee Titans), (Ryan Rehkow, P, #8, Cincinnati Bengals), (Cameron Dicker, K, #11, Los Angeles Chargers)
Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett (DE, #95, Cleveland Browns)
Myles is just one of those players who could feasibly win this award every single year. He’s such a game disruptor and is just so good at his job. If offenses are writing game scripts around you and you’re consistently getting double or even triple teamed by the offensive line then you know you’re a phenom at your position. That’s why I’m glad I get to actually give him this award this season and it’s really no debate. If you know me or you’ve read my blog at all then you probably already know I’m a big Myles Garrett fan. This year he went on to break Michael Strahan’s NFL single season sack record with 23 sacks! The 2nd closest behind him this year was still 6 sacks away from catching him. On top of that, the rest of his stats weren’t to be taken lightly this season either. 3 forced fumbles, 60 total tackles, 33 of those tackles for a loss (a career high), and 39 hits on the quarterback (also a career high). Myles is aging, offensive lines know him well at this point and have undoubtably studied lots of tape on him over the years, but he still comes back year after year and plays like the same monster he’s been since entering the league in 2017. Hell, he may actually be getting a little better and more sophisticated with his play style in age, but again, time will tell. For now though, another lights out season to add to his Hall of Fame resume and he’s the 2025 defensive player of the year.
*Honorable Mentions*: (Devin Lloyd, LB, #0, Jacksonville Jaguars), (Danielle Hunter, DE, #55, Houston Texans), (Brian Burns, LB, #0, New York Giants)
Offensive Player of the Year: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR, #11, Seattle Seahawks)
Gosh, this was such a hard category to choose for me this year as well. This was a bit of a crazy year in the NFL that saw a lot of the familiar stalwart teams kind of stumble away from the top of the league and a lot of other key offensive weapons on other teams really step up. I put my bid behind JSN because I think most football fans knew he was good and was going to be something, but no one expected such an explosive year like he ended up having. There were question marks around the Seahawks coming into the season because people still didn’t know whether or not they could really put their faith in Sam Darnold and they played in such a tough division in the NFC, being put up against the Niners and the Rams. Well Sam Darnold made all the doubters eat their words yet again as he went to another team and won 14 games, winning the NFC West in the process. In doing so, he also really elevated JSN’s numbers and allowed him to not only shine but prove he deserves to be talked about with some of the very top receivers in the league in years to come. He lapped his numbers from previous years in almost every category. Posting 119 receptions, 1,793 receiving yards (the most in the league), 10 touchdowns, and averaging 105 yards a game. All of those numbers were EASILY career highs for him in his 3rd year in the league and I’m sure he’s just getting started. He proved that like most elite WRs in the league, if you give them the proper QB, they can absolutely hang with the best of them and JSN showed that in spades this season.
*Honorable Mentions*: (Puka Nacua, WR, #12, Los Angeles Rams), (Christian McCaffery, RB, #23, San Francisco 49ers), (Jonathan Taylor, RB, #28, Indianapolis Colts)
League MVP: Matt Stafford (QB, #9, Los Angeles Rams)
I mean really, I think Stafford deserves it at this point. It’s kind of wild to think back on his career and the fact that he’s never won or really been talked about to be MVP before. What’s even crazier is the fact that he’s 37 years old and this is his 17th season in the NFL and he’s still posting the numbers that he is and elevating the offense around him. In certain categories he truly was putting up the best numbers in his career this season. Let’s break it down, shall we? He threw for 4,707 yards this year (the most in the league), 46 touchdown passes (a career high and the most in the league), all while throwing under 10 interceptions this season (8 to be exact). He also had the highest success rate and QBR of his career this season if those are stats you look at or care about. Not just that, but the way he elevates the receivers around him and the effortlessness in which he can still chuck that ball while being such an aged vet in the game is truly impressive. He opens up the floor for Puka Nacua to shine and show his talents off on a regular basis and gave veteran receiver Davante Adams one of the best and most exciting seasons of his career this year as they’re both reaching the tail end. It’s truly impressive as well because Stafford plays like kind of an old school QB, he’s one of the very few true pocket passing QBs in the league nowadays but it works for him and he does it to perfection. I think Stafford has always been a bit underappreciated throughout his career so it’s nice to see him getting all the praise and flowers in his later years being on a good team like the Rams. I think the league will miss the gunslinger once he decides to hang it up, but he proved this season that he’s still got some in the tank and can still truly hang with the best of them.
*Honorable Mentions*: (Drake Maye, QB, #10, New England Patriots), (Sam Darnold, QB, #14, Seattle Seahawks), (Josh Allen, QB, #17, Buffalo Bills)
That’s going to do it for this one! Put a nice little bow on the 2025 NFL season. Now, the stressful yet exciting games begin! Both my Cowboys and Browns have been eliminated at this point though so I’m watching with less stress and more excitement as just a pure fan of the game in this juncture. If your team is still in the race though (and you’re not just one of those bandwagoners who will hop from team to team depending on who’s hot), then best of luck to you and your team in these coming weeks! Make sure to let me know who some of your picks for NFL season awards are and make sure to like and follow the page on social media or bookmark the website to keep up with all my latest posts over sports, pro wrestling, horror films, and more! Till next time, be good to one another.
