Midseason is a perfect time to get a snapshot of how the 2017 awards might shake out. At this moment, the Eagles are on top. Carson Wentz is a viable MVP candidate. And the Rams are actually good — so good that Sean McVay is in the running for Coach of the Year.
Which of our NFL midseason award predictions will hold up?
A lot can change between now and the end of the 2017 season.
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
But there’s half a season left to play. A lot can change in that time. While it’s fun to take a look at who would win these awards if the season ended today, it’s also fair to consider which of these may not hold up when the real awards are handed out at the end of the season.
Coach of the Year
Sean McVay, Rams
The experts at our team sites voted, and Sean McVay ran away with this one at the midseason mark.
Yes, it’s McVay’s first year at the helm with the Rams. But he took a team that finished 4-12 last season and appeared to have squandered the No. 1 pick on Jared Goff and turned them into contenders — not just in the NFC West, but in general. If the season ended today, the Rams would slide into one of the NFC’s wild card spots. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2004.
Barring a collapse, McVay definitely warrants heavy consideration for Coach of the Year honors.
Other contenders:
Doug Pederson, Eagles
Pederson could sneak ahead of McVay for this one, depending on how the rest of the Eagles’ season goes. Right now, Philadelphia has the best record in football at 7-1, and the Eagles just went out before the trade deadline and got themselves yet another weapon in Jay Ajayi. They’re looking hard to stop.
Bill Belichick, Patriots
Belichick is always a possibility. The Patriots offense was able to carry a weak defense for the first few weeks of the season, and over the past two games, the defense has improved. They’ll be a factor in the postseason, and Belichick’s name will be in the mix.
Doug Marrone, Jaguars
Marrone has taken a Jaguars squad that won three games all of last season and has led it to a tie with the Titans for the top spot in the AFC South. The argument can be made that defensive coordinator Todd Wash deserves the credit here, but it’s not the Assistant Coach of the Year Award we’re talking about.
Verdict: McVay and Pederson seem like the most likely candidates. There’s a good shot McVay holds onto this one.
Rookie of the Year
There’s no way around this — Deshaun Watson has been the best rookie quarterback so far this season, and it’s not close. But the torn ACL Watson suffered in practice on Thursday will change the outcome here. He’s tied with Wentz at the top of the league with 19 touchdown passes. He’s putting his team in positions to win games, even though sometimes Bill O’Brien lets it slip away. His two top receivers, DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, are tied at No. 1 with seven receiving touchdowns apiece.
If Watson hadn’t gotten injured, it’s hard to imagine anyone else would get the award.
Other contenders:
If you hadn’t heard of Kareem Hunt before Week 1, you know who he is now. His three-touchdown performance with 246 total yards against the Patriots made quite a first impression. He’s kept it up too, leading the NFL with 1,070 yards from scrimmage.
Smith-Schuster isn’t just second in receiving yards for the Steelers, behind Antonio Brown. He’s also one of the league’s most fun young players to watch.
Lattimore was named the league’s Defensive Rookie of the Month for October, and it’s well-deserved. He’s got two picks, one of which he returned for a touchdown, and seven pass breakups so far this season. It’ll be hard to pass him up for Defensive Rookie of the Year if he keeps playing at this level.
Verdict: It’s tough to imagine anyone beating out Watson for this one if he had stayed healthy, but now Hunt or Smith-Schuster could get the honors for the offensive rookie. And Lattimore should be the front-runner for the defensive award.
Defensive Player of the Year
Calais Campbell, Jaguars
The Jaguars’ best offseason addition. Campbell leads the team with 10 sacks so far this season. Along with Minnesota’s Everson Griffen, he’s tied No. 2 in the league for sacks behind Demarcus Lawrence, who has 10 1/2.
No player has done more to single-handedly affect the Jaguars’ turnaround on defense than Campbell.
Other contenders:
Demarcus Lawrence, Cowboys
We would be remiss if we didn’t include the league’s sack leader. He’s tied for first in the league for forced fumbles with three, and he’s recovered two. Thanks in large part to Lawrence and the adjustments offensive lines have to make to try to contain him, the Cowboys are ranked fifth in the league with 25 sacks.
Griffen has just as many sacks as Campbell, and he racked up six of the 10 in October. That earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Month honors for the month. He also has two forced fumbles on the season, both of which came during October too. If he plays the rest of the season like he did the month of October, he has a real shot.
Verdict: This one is much more wide open than the other categories. All three of these players are deserving, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see any one of them walk away with the award in February.
MVP
Carson Wentz, Eagles
This was not our expectation heading into the season, but Carson Wentz has made a strong case to be named the league’s MVP this year. He’s led his team to a 7-1 record, the best in the NFL. He’s third in the league, behind Tom Brady and Alex Smith, in yards passing. He’s got 19 touchdowns this season, which ties him at No. 1 alongside Watson. On top of that, he has just five interceptions.
If the season ended today, Wentz should be the MVP. If he keeps playing this way, he very likely will be.
Other contenders:
Alex Smith, Chiefs
Smith is a big part of the reason the Chiefs are looking like the best team in the AFC right now. He’s thrown for 2,181 yards and 16 touchdowns and is on pace to obliterate his previous career high marks in both. On top of that, he has just one fumble and no interceptions on the season.
Tom Brady, Patriots
Will there ever come a season that Tom Brady isn’t in the discussion for MVP? Sure, when he finally retires. There was speculation after Week 1 that age was catching up with Brady. It isn’t. He leads the league with 2,541 yards and he has thrown 16 touchdowns against two interceptions.
Verdict: It obviously depends on how the rest of the season shakes out for each of these teams, but this is another one that could go either way, because all of them are so close statistically and their teams are winning.
Best team in the NFL
Philadelphia Eagles
This one’s easy. They have the best record in football. They just added Ajayi before the trade deadline, and another offensive weapon can only help. The Eagles face the Brock Osweiler-led Broncos in Week 9, and then it’s the Cowboys without Ezekiel Elliott. The Seahawks and Rams may give them a run for their money, but overall, the remaining schedule favors the Eagles staying on top of the NFC.
Other contenders:
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs are sitting at 6-2, and the offense has been spectacular. Run defense is the biggest concern for Kansas City, and it may catch up with them. They’ll get the Cowboys this week without Elliott, and the Bills may give them a fight, but the rest of the games on their schedule look winnable.
New England Patriots
The Patriots have some tough tests ahead with two matchups against the Bills and a game in Pittsburgh on the schedule, but the defense has tightened up over the past two games, which will make this a smoother road for the Patriots.
Verdict: You know the saying about any given Sunday. It all depends on if these teams keep winning. But we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Eagles take on either the Chiefs or Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
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