Nick Wetzel, Sports Editor
| Award | Player | Reason |
|
Comeback Player of the Year |
Melvin Gordon |
Gordon was widely viewed as a bust after a poor rookie season. He has completely thrown out that viewpoint of himself with the spectacular season he is having this year. He has stepped up into a huge role for the Chargers’ offense with the injuries to Danny Woodhead and Dexter McCluster, but he has flourished. He already has 11 touchdowns on the year (nine rushing, two receiving) and he currently sits third in rushing yards. |
|
Defensive Rookie of the Year |
Jalen Ramsey |
Once Joey Bosa held out due to a contract dispute and then got hurt once he ended his holdout, Ramsey basically sewed the race up. He has looked vulnerable at times, particularly during the Jaguars only nationally televised game, but that’s to be expected of rookie corners. Other than the Thursday Night game against the Titans, Ramsey has impressed in his first year in the league. He is already the number one corner in Jacksonville and opposing QBs are taking note of his presence on the field by targeting players he isn’t covering. |
|
Offensive Rookie of the Year |
Ezekiel Elliot |
This has been the closest award race thus far, as Elliot and his QB, Dak Prescott, have both looked very impressive. Elliot gets the nod here because he was able to overcome the first two games of the season, where he only had 134 yards on 41 carries. Since Week 3, his lowest total yardage came this past week. He had 92 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns. Zeke also leads the league in rushing. You really can’t go wrong with either Dallas rookie, however. |
|
Offensive Player of the Year |
Derek Carr |
Carr has taken tremendous strides from his already impressive rookie year. Through nine weeks, he is fifth in passer rating, tenth in Quarterback rating, and he has thrown 17 touchdowns to just three interceptions. He also just led his team to a victory over the best defense in football and has his team sitting at the top of the AFC West standings. Carr gets my pick for OPOY, but if one were to go with Brady over Matt Ryan at MVP, then Ryan would become my OPOY. |
|
Defensive Player of the Year |
Von Miller |
This is just like the Defensive Rookie race, because once J.J. Watt went down it became very evident that this was Von Miller’s award to lose. He refuses to do so as he continues to demonstrate how disruptive a force he is to any opposing offense. There is no way to stop him; teams fear him so much that they are putting an extra offensive lineman on the field just to slow him down. He leads the league in sacks with nine and a half as well. |
|
Coach of the Year |
Jack Del Rio |
The Raiders could lose more games than they the win for rest of the season and they will still probably make the playoffs. Thats the kind of year its been for Oakland through nine games. They currently sit at 7-2, with their latest win coming against Denver for the division lead. The Raiders look complete on both sides of the ball with Derek Carr anchoring the offense and Khalil Mack bringing the boom on defense. |
|
Most Valuable Player |
Matt Ryan |
Despite how well Tom Brady has looked in his return from suspension, Matty Ice gets my MVP nod as he has a four game stat advantage over Brady and has performed incredibly well all season. He has 24 touchdowns to just four interceptions, almost 3000 yards already, and is pushing a 70 percent completion rate. The Falcons also sit at 6-3 and beat both Super Bowl teams from last season in back-to-back weeks earlier this season. |
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