We’re about a quarter of the way through the regular season and the NFL landscape is starting to take shape. The 2024 standout teams and players are becoming more and more clear. Here I will look at who would be the award winners if the season ended today.
I will also include my preseason predictions from before I started contributing for Blitz Sports Media.
Most Valuable Player
Sam Darnold – Who saw this one coming in the preseason? His name may look out of place, but his play has put him directly into the MVP conversation. Taking over as starting QB for the injured J.J. McCarthy, Darnold has led the Vikings to an unexpected 4-0 record.
He ranks 1st in the NFL with 11 passing TDs (with just 3 INTs) and 2nd in yards per attempt with a whopping 8.8 Y/A. Darnold is also first in QB rating with 118.9 and shows no signs of slowing down. Kevin O’Connell has proven to be one of the best QB whisperers in the league and the Vikings offense is only getting stronger with the return of Jordan Addison last week and T.J. Hockenson who will be back sooner than later.
Sam Darnold is just getting started in his red-hot 2024 campaign.
JLSports preseason pick: Joe Burrow
Offensive Player of the Year
Derrick Henry – Now on the Baltimore Ravens, in his 30-year-old season, Derrick Henry looks as powerful and fast as ever. After an 0-2 start, Baltimore realized that Henry gets better and better the more you give him the ball.
In his first 2 games, he averaged 15.5 carries for 65 yards, but in his last 2, he’s averaged 24.5 carries for 175 yards per game. The Ravens are also 2-0 in their last 2. King Henry leads the league in rushing yards (430) and TDs (5) and gives us no reason to believe there will be any drop in production despite being 30 years old.
JLSports preseason pick: Jahmyr Gibbs
Defensive Player of the Year
Aidan Hutchinson – The 2022 number 2 overall pick has been an absolute menace so far this season for the Detroit Lions. He has a league-leading 7 sacks to go along with 25 total pressures and is the highest-graded edge defender (93.4) and pass rusher (94.2) according to Pro Football Focus. If he keeps that kind of production up, he’ll be a shoo-in as DPOY.
JLSports preseason pick: Maxx Crosby
Offensive Rookie of the Year
Jayden Daniels – The 2023 Heisman Winner has been electric to watch and led his Washington Commanders to a surprising 3-1 record, good enough for first place in the NFC East. Daniels has completed a staggering 82.1% of his passes and although he has only thrown for 3 TDs, he’s added 4 more on the ground.
There is tough competition this year in Malik Nabers and Marvin Harrison Jr., but neither have been as impressive as Daniels so far in the NFL.
JLSports preseason pick: Caleb Williams
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Jared Verse – Draft analysts told us that the 2024 draft class was a weak one for defenders and so far, they are right. Rookie defensive players usually come along slowly, so nobody jumps off the page at this point in the season.
Jared Verse has a respectable 17 total pressures in 4 games for the Rams coming off the edge. He’s only tallied one sack so far, but those numbers will increase as the season progresses. His 76.7 grade from PFF is good enough for 16th among all edge players in the NFL. This is good enough to win him DPOY, until someone makes a statement to claim this award.
JLSports preseason pick: Payton Wilson
Coach of the Year
Kevin O’Connell – O’Connell easily checks all the boxes to win Coach of the Year. The award is typically given to the coach with the flat-out best football team or who helps their team greatly exceed expectations.
The Vikings had very little expectations after letting Kirk Cousins walk in the offseason. First-round pick J.J. McCarthy went down with a season-ending injury which set up journeyman Sam Darnold as the starter for the 2024 season. KOC and company have responded with a 4-0 record including convincing wins against the Packers, Texans, and 49ers.
JLSports preseason pick: Shane Steichen
Comeback Player of the Year
Aaron Rodgers – Many will suggest Darnold for this award, but I’m not sure he’s coming back from anything besides poor luck on bad football teams.
Rodgers’ Jets are currently 2-2, but he’s shown more than enough flashes of his old self to warrant winning this award.
JLSports preseason pick: Aaron Rodgers
There is still a lot of football yet to play, but it’s hard to believe we’re already 4 weeks into the season. So far it has been as exciting as ever and of course, many of our preseason predictions are already out the window. The unpredictability is what makes the NFL so great. I’ll check back in mid-season to see how these awards are holding up.