Dec 31 2019
Off

The 2019 NFL regular season has come and gone. It was a season filled with surprises: the Patriots did not earn a bye, the Steelers started a duck at quarterback, another superstar quarterback emerged and, best of all, the Buffalo Bills are going to the playoffs. Here are my 2019 NFL awards picks:

Most Valuable Player: Lamar Jackson

Duh. In fifteen starts, Jackson threw for 3,127 yards and led the NFL with 36 touchdowns. He added 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground, setting the single-season rushing record for a quarterback. After a 2-2 start, his Ravens won his final eleven starts in dominating fashion. The Ravens achieved the highest point differential (+249) since 1970; yes, even higher than the 2007 Patriots.

Jackson is the runaway winner. However, if Patrick Mahomes stayed healthy all year, he probably would’ve been in the conversation. Russell Wilson did as much as he could under the Seahawks cowardly coaching staff, but it simply wasn’t enough. Michael Thomas deserves more MVP love as he kept the Saints’ chances of earning a bye alive during Drew Brees’ absence. 

Side note: If Aaron Rodgers gets even one vote for MVP, that person should have their vote rescinded.

Offensive Player of the Year: George Kittle

Can we award three-way co-champions? How am I supposed to decide between Michael Thomas, George Kittle and Christian McCaffery?

Thomas broke the single-season receptions record with 149, led the league by over 300 receiving yards with 1,725, added nine touchdowns and kept the Saints alive when Drew Brees was injured. Meanwhile, McCaffrey and Kittle did this:

I’m going to have to do what any college student does when they don’t know the answer to a multiple choice question: use the process of elimination.

McCaffrey is the first one out for me. 1,000 receiving yards and 1,000 rushing yards is highly impressive, but the Panthers stunk and definitely helped pad his stats at least a little bit. The poor kid got snubbed from the 2016 Heisman award and now the 2019 OPOY award despite record-setting seasons.

Between Thomas and Kittle, I’m going to go with the latter. I know most voters won’t vote for Kittle because he doesn’t have the raw statistics (1,053 receiving yards and 6 total touchdowns) that Thomas and McCaffrey put up.

I would counter that Kittle was the league’s most efficient receiver. As Barrett noted, Kittle shattered the record for yards per route run with 3.10 — making him the league’s most efficient receiver. Combine that with Kittle’s blocking abilities, which unlocks so much of the Niners elite rushing offense, and that’s my offensive player of the year.

Defensive Player of the Year: Stephon Gilmore

Through Week 16, Gilmore pretty much had this award wrapped up as the best defensive player on the league’s best defense. Then, he got shredded by DeVante Parker to the tune of eight catches on eleven targets for 137 yards. With a bye on the line for the Patriots, the Dolphins specifically targeted Gilmore, and Gilmore lost.

Bills corner Tre’Davious White won’t get the national recognition he deserves, but posted similar numbers to Gilmore across the board. White allowed 626 receiving yards on 91 targets compared to Gilmore’s 582 yards on 101 targets. White did not allow a single touchdown on 599 snaps in coverage. Per PFF, White faced the most targets among players to not allow a touchdown.

Voter fatigue will hurt Aaron Donald, who only tallied 12.5 sacks on 55 QB pressures. Shaquil Barrett led the league with 19.5 sacks and tallied six forced fumbles in a breakout season. TJ Watt led all pass rushers with 60 QB pressures and eight forced fumbles. Chandler Jones quietly posted 19 sacks and eight forced fumbles for the Cardinals.

Despite struggling in his final two games, it’s hard to imagine Gilmore not winning the award. After all, if these performances came in the middle of the season, perhaps nobody would have noticed. I’ll begrudgingly give my vote to Gilmore; I don’t feel particularly good about it, but nobody took the award from him, either.

Offensive Rookie of the Year: AJ Brown

Brown led all rookie wide receivers with 1,051 receiving yards. In Ryan Tannehill’s ten starts, Brown racked up 778 yards and six touchdowns, a 16-game pace of 1,245 yards and ten touchdowns, or an average season for DeAndre Hopkins. According to Scott Barrett, among 79 receivers with 50+ targets Brown ranked:

  • 3rd in yards per route run
  • 2nd in passer rating when targeted
  • 2nd in missed tackles forced per reception
  • 1st in yards after the catch per reception
  • 1st in yards after contact per reception
  • 1st in yards per target among all 79 WRs with 50+ target 

Oh, and he makes plays like this: 

Shoutout to Terry McLaurin, DK Metcalf, Deebo Samuel, Darius Slayton and Hollywood Brown who all excelled in their rookie campaigns, but Brown was simply the best of the bunch.

Josh Jacobs tallied 1,150 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in just 13 games, but I’m fairly opposed to rewarding running backs for non-record breaking seasons these days. Kyler Murray became only the second rookie quarterback to post 3,500 passing yards and 500 rushing yards, but he struggled in too many games and had approximately thirty touchdowns vultured by Kenyan Drake. Gardner Minshew was actually the most efficient rookie QB based on adjusted net yards per pass attempt, but only started twelve games.

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Nick Bosa

All due respect to Josh Allen, who led all rookies in sacks with 10.5, but this award belongs to Nick Bosa. He finished with more QB hits (25), tackles for loss (16), combined tackles (47) and still tallied nine sacks. Bosa anchored the Niners fearsome defensive line and is already a superstar. He’s a legitimate DPOY contender as a rookie.

Comeback Player of the Year: Jimmy Garoppolo

After missing most of the 2018 season due to a torn ACL, Garoppolo returned in 2019 and led the Niners to the NFC’s best record. He threw for 3,978 yards and totaled 28 touchdowns. Shoutout to Earl Thomas, Cooper Kupp, Travis Frederick as well. Ryan Tannehill posted a career year and led the NFL in yards per attempt and adjusted net yards per attempt, but he didn’t start the year (not his fault) and played eleven games last season, including the final six. Tannehill rejuvenated his career, but I’m not sure exactly why he’s in the running for this award.

Coach of the Year: John Harbaugh

2019 was a banner year for coaches. Here are my top six coaching jobs this season:

  • John Harbaugh orchestrated a complete overhaul in Baltimore, which led to twelve straight wins, the best record in the NFL and Lamar Jackson’s ascension to league MVP.
  • Scheme-lord Kyle Shanahan led the 49ers to the NFC 1-seed.
  • Sean Payton’s Saints went 5-0 without Drew Brees and 13-3 overall.
  • Sean McDermott’s culture in Buffalo has led to two playoff appearances in three seasons.
  • Doug Pederson seemingly lost every starting player except Carson Wentz and still made the playoffs.
  • Brian Flores won five games with the Dolphins.

Not mentioned: Jason Garrett and Freddie Kitchens

Unofficial Awards

Breakout Star: Chris Godwin

Most Improved: DeVante Parker

Most Washed: Phillip Rivers

Most Entertaining: Jameis Winston

Most Boring (but still good): Kirk Cousins

Most Overachieving Team: Green Bay Packers

Most Underachieving Team: Dallas Cowboys

Posted inFootball NFL
Tagsaj brown christian mccaffrey george kittle jimmy garoppolo john harbaugh lamar jackson michael thomas nick bosa

23 thoughts on “My 2019 NFL Awards Ballot”

Comments are closed.