NFL Mid-Season 2025 Awards
The 2025 NFL season is officially (more than) half of the way through. It's time to once again prematurely hand out awards.
Who doesn't love some mid-season award talk? I'll be handing out who I think deserves each NFL award so far this season. And this is not a prediction, or who I think will play well the rest of the year. Just who I believe has played well enough through 9 weeks to earn the award. And because this is only a mid-season award, why not have some fun with it? *All HMs in order.
Let's get started!
MVP:
Drake Maye
2285 yards, 17 TDs, 4 INTs, 74% cmp. 59 att, 270 yards, 2 TDs.
With how some of the MVP favorites played this past week, I had to think about this a bit. But I said we were having fun, right? Drake Maye has the Patriots tied for the 1st seed in the AFC at 7-2. A MVP requirement is winning you division, which Maye and the Pats are doing. Maye has the Patriots with a top 10 offense thus far, despite having a bottom 10 rushing attack. The running backs have 6 fumbles and averaged under 4 ypc. Drake Maye averages over 4 ypc and is nearly the Patriots rushing leader. The most accurate QB in the league is currently my MVP.
HMs to: Matthew Stafford - Masterful thus far with an incredible TD to TO ratio, and the Rams have an elite offense at the top of the NFC.
Patrick Mahomes - Similar to Maye, Mahomes has been the entire Chiefs offense. But the accuracy is not as elite, nor is the team success.
Sam Darnold - the only other QB that has been close to Maye accuracy wise, pinpoint all over the field. Darnold's deep ball lifts Seattle's offense to a higher level.
OPOY:
Jaxon Smith-Njigba
58 rec, 948 yards, 4TDs. 4 att, 22 yards.
On pace to beat the all-time receiving record, how is JSN not the OPOY thus far. Smith-Nijgba accounts for over 46% of the Seahawks passing offense, despite just having 36% of the offenses targets. Seattle's passing offense is also currently a top 2 passing offense in the NFL. JSN has been ridiculously dominant in the first half of the season.
HMs to: Jonathan Taylor - This is his award if I made this list last week. Still clearly in the running, JT is on pace for 26 TDs.
Christian McCaffrey - Carrying the 49ers offense, CMC leads the NFL in scrimmage yards and is top in rushing and receiving(on pace for a 1100/1100 yr). The lack of rush efficiency holds him back.
DPOY:
Aidan Hutchinson
18 tackles, 7 TFLs, 7.0 sacks, 16 QB hits, 4 FF. 37 hurries, 55 pressures
By far the hardest award to assign at the moment. I said we were having fun, so I hand this to Aidan Hutchinson, who has not lost a step (he might have gained one) after his injury. Leading the NFL in pressures, hurries, and FFs, Hutch is the main reason for Detroit's defensive success this season, as they rank top 10 in run and pass defense.
HMs to: Will Anderson - A dominating start, Anderson is trying to single-handedly lift Houston to wins. One of the best run defenders in the NFL, Anderson ranks towards the top in all pass rush stats.
Myles Garrett - Another deserving player. This may sound stupid, but I kind of docked Garrett for having nearly half of his production coming in a single game. Still dominant, and the type of player who deserves multiple DPOYs.
Micah Parsons - He's been relatively dominant to start his GB tenure, and has opened things up for other pass rushers on his DL.
Kyle Hamilton - I gave Fred Warner the 1/4 season DPOY. I mentioned Hamilton here for a similar reason. Elite instincts, he covers up the holes in the BAL defense.
CPOY:
Aidan Hutchinson
18 tackles, 7 TFLs, 7.0 sacks, 16 QB hits, 4 FF. 37 hurries, 55 pressures
Initially I was going to mix it up and give this to one of the HMs, because Hutchinson already got my DPOY. But coming off the most gruesome injury in the 2024 season and immediately dominating to start the following season is incredible. Nobody really comes close.
HMs to: Dak Prescott - A hamstring avulsion(tear) caused him to miss over half of 2024, Dak has played QB at an elite level in 2025.
Christian McCaffrey - Missing 13 games in 2024 with bilateral achilles tendinitis and a PCL sprain, CMC could easily win OPOY or CPOY. I dock him a bit here because his injury was less severe.
OROY:
Tyler Warren
42 rec, 518 yards, 3 TDs. 4 att, 6 yards, 2 TDs.
Immediately contributing to this great Colts team, Warren has played 82% of snaps for the best offense in the NFL. He has came in and gave top tier production from a rookie perspective, TE perspective, and Colts perspective. There isn't anything more he could be doing.
HMs to: Emeka Egbuka - Since the hamstring issue, Egbuka's production has dipped. He's still an incredible WR with great efficiency that has done a great job filling in since Day 1.
Tetairoa McMillan - A WR1, TMac has shown great body control and ability to always be open in Carolina.
DROY:
Donovan Ezeiruaku
20 tackles, 6 TFLs, 2.0 sacks, 10 QB hits, 1 FF. 11 hurries, 22 pressures
I almost don't want to give this award out it's so disgusting. I give it to Ezieruaku because he's been quite good, productive even, in a limited role. Is this BL biased? Perhaps, but I don't see anybody else that is truly deserving.
HMs to: Jihaad Campbell - A solid start to his career, playing behind a solid DL and next to an All Pro LB helps that. His coverage ability and tackling stats could get him this award.
Abdul Carter - A good pass rusher, his stats haven't showed up as of yet. And the run defense isn't great either, but he is often playing out of position.
Carson Schwesinger - My 1/4 season selection, he continued his solid play but got injured and has missed a few weeks.
POY:
Penei Sewell
0 sacks, 1 penalty, 1 QB hit, 7 pressures.
Running behind Penei Sewell will lead an offense to 6 points. Not only is he the best run blocker in the league, but he has a pretty clean sheet in pass pro too. All this with a rookie RG playing next to him all season.
HMs to: Quenton Nelson - The catalyst for the best offense (and run game) in the NFL, Nelson is easily deserving of this award.
COY:
Kyle Shanahan
6-3 record, 3rd place in NFC West, 6th seed in NFC, 3-0 in division.
I refuse to give this award to anybody else. The 49ers have over $65M on IR/PUP. That's over 23% of the NFL salary cap. And that doesn't include his starting WR(out for 5 weeks), starting QB(out for 7 weeks), starting C(out 2 weeks), and starting TE(out for 5 weeks). Shanahan still has this team winning games and an above average offense.
Look at the other teams in the NFL who have suffered a mass of injuries: Commanders (3-6), Cowboys (3-5-1), Ravens (3-5), etc. If the 49ers situation happens to any other team, nobody would blink when that team would inevitably have a top 10 pick. Nobody coaches like Kyle Shanahan.
HM to: Shane Steichen - He has gone from being written off as fired to calling the best offense this century and having the AFC 1 seed. Hiring his DC was an incredible move too.
I hope these very relevant mid-season season awards satisfy you. Thanks for reading through, and let me know who I forgot.
Stay tuned for more NFL and 49ers related news, articles, and opinions!
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