Each year, I go division by division and nominate who I believe is each team’s candidate for the major NFL awards and then we discuss/declare who the division’s major award winner is for the season…and that player goes onto the divisional Final Four with a chance to go to the Super Bowl/Finals for a chance to be declared my seasonal award winner.
We go division-by-division each day, then to the Final Four for each conference, then the finals to name our winner the day the NFL announces their winners. *And my choices are usually different up and down the line in each category, so enjoy a different take on the NFL awards.
*MVP (any position, but usually offense)
**Coach of the Year (any coach on the staff, not just the head coach)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFC North: 2023 Season Awards Tournament: MVP
BAL: Lamar Jackson
CIN: Joe Burrow
CLE: Joe Flacco
PIT: George Pickens
George Pickens, at his best, was arguably the most talented player of this group (in 2023)...but, his team didn’t use him that much so he can’t win the award. When they did use him, he was stunning...but they ignored him way more than they pushed him...so, no vote for Pickens.
Now, it’s between the three QBs...all important to their team in various ways. Flacco had a nice run late. Burrow cost his team as much as he helped by trying to play through his calf issue and looking terrible most of the time doing it. One QB played the entire year and had good numbers and his team had the best record in football...so that QB deserves the nod.
AFC North Winner = QB Lamar Jackson, BAL
------------------------------
AFC North: 2023 Season Awards Tournament: Rookie of the Year
BAL: WR Zay Flowers
CIN: CB D.J. Turner
CLE: OG Dawand Jones
PIT: CB Joey Porter
D.J. Turner had a fine rookie season, becoming a starter a few weeks into the season -- but he wasn’t as impactful as the others on this list...a very strong list of rookies.
Zay Flowers was instantly the Ravens #1 WR...stunning for a WR, but Zay’s importance to the team can’t beat the other two competitors.
Dawand Jones was awesome...like I said he would be. I often harp on Bryce Young being the biggest mistake of the 2023 NFL Draft, but really it was missing out on Dawand Jones by all the teams for multiple rounds. If not for getting hurt and being lost for the season halfway into it...Dawand could have walked away with this.
Dawand still might get my nod, but Joey Porter is in play too...he got his shot to shine/start a few weeks into the season and was instantly a shutdown corner.
Who should I choose? A great offensive lineman or a shutdown corner...the two most important things in the NFL aside from QB...I could flip a coin. I’m going to go with Porter...because what he was doing a few weeks into starting, totally shutting down some top WRs...that’s rare/impressive. Dawand was really good too, but Porter was bordering on ‘great’.
AFC North Winner = CB Joey Porter, PIT
------------------------------
AFC North: 2023 Season Awards Tournament: Defensive Player of the Year
BAL: DT Jason Madubuike
CIN: DE Trey Hendrickson
CLE: DE Myles Garrett
PIT: LB T.J. Watt
Oddly, the AFC North DPOY has four high-end pass rushers chasing after the prize. Here are their 2023 numbers...
68 tackles, 19.5 sacks, 19 TFLs, 4 FF, 36 QB hits (17g) = T.J. Watt
56 tackles, 13.0 sacks, 12 TFLs, 1 FF, 33 QB hits (17g) = Madubuike
43 tackles, 17.5 sacks, 16 TFLs, 3 FF, 25 QB hits (17g) = Hendrickson
42 tackles, 14.0 sacks, 17 TFLs, 4 FF, 30 QB hits (16g) = Garrett
All of them are good/great, but I posted them in order of who I thought had the best season...
...aren’t you surprised by how overrated, to a degree, Myles Garrett is?
AFC North Winner = OLB T.J. Watt, PITT
------------------------------
AFC North: 2023 Season Awards Tournament: Coach of the Year
BAL: HC John Harbaugh
CIN: O-C Brian Callahan
CLE: HC Kevin Stefanski
PIT: HC Mike Tomlin
Brian Callahan did a decent job keeping the offense going after Joe Burrow went down, but not enough of a job to get an award...but did get a head coaching job.
Kevin Stefanski did a nice job this season, but he’s lucky Joe Flacco bailed him out as much as anything.
It comes down to the consistent winning ways of John Harbaugh v. Mike Tomlin. I wanted to give Tomlin the nod for somehow pulling a playoff team out of this mess – but then I thought, he is the one who made the mess...the poor O-C choice and waiting too long to fire him...Tomlin is the one that people still don’t believe the team is all that good, but people believe in the Ravens – and that’s due in part to John Harbaugh, and he won the division and #1 seed.
AFC North Winner = HC John Harbaugh, BAL
The winners in each category move on to the conference finals to determine which of them goes onto the AFC v. NFC finals in each award category for the FFM named winners for 2023 season.
