The 2025 NFL season is over, and with that, comes many celebrations and special postseason events. Those items included the Pro Bowl games, the Super Bowl, and the NFL Honors. All these special events also come with drama from players, coaches, fans, and mostly the media. The NFL Honors is the post-season award presentation that is televised the Thursday before the Super Bowl in the city that will host the Super Bowl just days later. This ceremony recognizes the best players in the NFL and rewards them with different trophies.
The NFL Honors debuted at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis in 2012. According to the New York Times’s online publication, The Athletic, the presentation was pre-recorded from 2012 to 2021 to be shown the day before the Super Bowl. The date was pushed back to Thursday and televised live. The awards given at the NFL Honors include the Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Assistant Coach of the Year, Walter Payton Man of the Year, Moment of the Year, Salute to Service Award, Art Rooney Award, Deacon Jones Award, Jim Brown Award, FedEx Air & Ground Player of the Year, Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year, and Don Shula High School Coach of the Year.
This year the race for MVP was a close one between two quarterbacks, Josh Allen from the Buffalo Bills and Lamar Jackson from the Baltimore Ravens. Lamar Jackson is a two-time recipient of the MVP in 2019 and 2023. Josh Allen had never received an MVP but was looking to change that this past year. Allen received 27 first-place votes, 22 second-place votes, and one third-place vote, for a total of 383 points in the AP’s ranked-choice voting system. Jackson received 23 first-place votes, 26 second-place votes, and one fourth-place vote, for 362 total points (Ringer.com)
However, Josh Allen’s winning was controversial because not many people thought he would. Jackson was the favorite going into awards night. In an interview with CBS Sports’ John Breech, Allen said, “I was pretty surprised, given what we know about how the voting goes,” Allen also said in a press conference after winning the award. “Lamar was very deserving of this as well.” People believed Jackson would win since he was selected as the quarterback for the NFL All-Pro team. Jackson also had more passing yards, passing touchdowns, fewer interceptions, and a higher completion percentage, John Breech continued, “The reason this was shocking is because it broke more than five decades of precedent, and it will be interesting to see if this year was an anomaly or if this is how things will be going forward.“ Usually, when a quarterback wins the All-Pro spot the player is expected to also win the MVP award as well. According to the Baltimore Raven’s website, some Ravens fans were saying things like, “Allen was great, but Jackson was historic. And voter fatigue is no excuse.”
In conclusion, you are never going to make all NFL fans happy. If Jackson had been selected MVP instead of Allen, Bill fans would have been just as angry and confused because their quarterback just had the best season of his career. Every year since the awards have taken place, the All-Pro quarterback has also been selected as MVP. Did Josh Allen deserve the highest award or was it taken away from the defending MVP Lamar Jackson?
