The Super Bowl takes place in New Orleans this week, which means it’s also time for NFL Honors. On Thursday night, we will find out who was the best of the best from the eventful 2024 NFL season. Over a dozen awards will be presented, including MVP, Coach of the Year, Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year.
Below, we will attempt to predict the winners for seven of the biggest awards at NFL Honors, but first, here’s how to watch the event.
How to watch
Date: Thursday, Feb. 6 | Time: 9 p.m. ET
Location: Saenger Theater (New Orleans)
TV: Fox/NFL Network
NFL Honors picks: CBS Sports staff crowns MVP, Coach of the Year, other top performers, including playoffs
Cody Benjamin
Most Valuable Player: Josh Allen
A total of 732 quarterbacks have played 500 snaps in a season since 1970. Josh Allen’s 2024 campaign produced the lowest percentage of plays with a sack, fumble or interception (4.17%). The Buffalo Bills lost so much this past offseason, people were writing them off as legitimate contenders. While Lamar Jackson added Derrick Henry to his backfield, Allen lost his starting center and top two wideouts. However, he somehow played the best season of his entire career!
Allen accounted for 41 total touchdowns and just 25 negative plays (sack, fumble or INT). That’s the fifth-best difference by a quarterback since 2000, and the four other QBs all won MVP. Allen’s leading receiver ranked 40th in the NFL in receiving yards, and Buffalo didn’t have a rusher rank inside the top 15. Allen was the reason the Bills went 13-4, won the division and made the AFC Championship.
Coach of the Year: Kevin O’Connell
It appeared the Minnesota Vikings took a massive hit when rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. Would Sam Darnold be able to run this offense efficiently? Yes, thanks to O’Connell.
Darnold went 14-3 as the starter, and put up career-high numbers across the board by completing 66.2% of his passes for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Those 14 wins were the most by any quarterback in NFL history in their first season with a team. This past season was the Vikings’ best season since 1998, even if it ended in tough fashion. The defense finished No. 5 in scoring (19.5 points allowed per game), and was tied for first in turnovers forced (33).
Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Burrow
This award will be a bit confusing. This year, the Associated Press adjusted its criteria for Comeback Player of the Year, saying: “The spirit of the AP Comeback Player of the Year award is to honor a player who has demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity by overcoming illness, physical injury or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season.”
If you recall, Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11 of the 2023 season. He bounced back in 2024 by leading the league in passing completions (460), passing attempts (652), passing yards (4,918) and passing touchdowns (43) while throwing just nine interceptions. Despite the fact that Cincinnati went 9-8, Burrow had an MVP-like season.
Offensive Player of the Year: Saquon Barkley
Barkley is the reason the Philadelphia Eagles find themselves in the Super Bowl. He became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards, and the third player to win the rushing title the year after switching teams. The former New York Giant also led the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 2,283, and scored 15 total touchdowns.
Playoff performances don’t count for this award, but Barkley rushed for 119 yards in Wild Card Weekend, registered his second 200-yard rushing game of the year against the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round, then rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns in the NFC Championship game. Saquon’s 28th birthday falls on Super Bowl Sunday. What kind of magical performance are we going to get later this week?
PS2 is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. In 2024, he matched a career-high with four interceptions, led the league in interception return yards with 132, recorded double-digit passes defended for the fourth consecutive season with 11 and recorded 45 combined tackles. Surtain had more interceptions than 20-yard completions allowed this year (two)!
Offensive Rookie of the Year: Jayden Daniels
The easiest award to predict this year. In 2024, the No. 2 overall pick and Bo Nix became the only rookie quarterbacks in NFL history to win 10 games while accounting for 4,000 total yards and 30 total touchdowns in a single season, but Daniels was the one who really took the NFL by storm. He took Washington from 4-13 to 12-5, while breaking rookie QB records for completion percentage (69%) and rushing yards (891).
Despite being a rookie, Daniels had the clutch factor of a seasoned vet. He threw a ridiculous Hail Mary to beat the Chicago Bears in Week 8, threw a game-winning touchdown vs. the Eagles with six seconds remaining in the fourth quarter in Week 16, threw a game-winning touchdown the next week vs. the Atlanta Falcons in overtime and upset the No. 1-seeded Lions in Detroit in the divisional round after upsetting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Wild Card Weekend. The Washington Commanders have found their face of the franchise.
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jared Verse
The first-round pick out of Florida State was an immediate-impact player for the Rams, recording 66 combined tackles, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and 18 QB hits. He and teammate Braden Fiske both ranked in the top three among rookies in pressures this season, and Verse’s 77 pressures were the second-most recorded by any rookie since 2017 — when pressures were first tracked.
Again, playoff performances don’t count toward these awards, but Verse took his game to another level in the postseason. He recorded six tackles, two sacks and a touchdown in the Rams’ two playoff games.