2025 Season Awards Tournament: OPOY, OROY, DPOY, COY (AFC SOUTH)
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.
*Coach of the Year (any coach on the staff, not just the head coach)
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AFC SOUTH: 2025 Season Awards Tournament: Offensive Player of the Year
HOU: WR Nico Collins, HOU
IND: QB Daniel Jones, IND
JAX: QB Trevor Lawrence, JAX
TEN: WR Chimere Dike, TEN (NFL leader in all-purpose yards)
Well, this is gonna be historic...for me.
It can’t pick ‘good’ WRs over ‘good’ QBs...so it is either Daniel Jones or Trevor Lawrence. And in the spirit of ‘all QBs are good now’, I am awarding this to Trevor Lawrence for the way he closed out the season and doing so while working with the everchanging receiver groups they tried to deal to him.
Nothing says ‘2025’ like Trevor and Dimes fighting for this honor.
AFC South Winner = QB Trevor Lawrence, JAX
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AFC SOUTH: 2025 Season Awards Tournament: Rookie of the Year
HOU: RB Woody Marks, HOU
IND: TE Tyler Warren, IND
JAX: RB LaQuint Allen, JAX
TEN: WR Chimere Dike, TEN
Why Dike over Ward? Well, I think you have to honor a rookie who led the entire NFL in all-purpose yards for the season? I mean, that’s insane...and yet he won’t even get one vote for OROY from the media, but I bet Tyler Warren does. Well, I’ll do the justice...Dike wins this for us EASILY.
AFC South Winner = WR Chimere Dike, TEN
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AFC SOUTH: 2025 Season Awards Tournament: Defensive Player of the Year
HOU: CB Derek Stingley, HOU
IND: SAF Cam Bynum, IND
JAX: CB Tyson Campbell, JAX
TEN: DT Jeffrey Simmons, TEN
This is another pretty easy one. Derek Stingley’s cover numbers are great. Stingley keeps covering the deep ball receivers, and teams keep forcing the deep ball receivers to go deep on him...and that’s silly. You can beat Stingley east-west, but offenses don’t know it/try it much. So, Stingley gets such respect from opposing QBs and O-Cs, and has the numbers...so, he gets the nod here.
AFC South Winner = CB Derek Stingley, HOU
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AFC SOUTH: 2025 Season Awards Tournament: Coach of the Year
HOU: HC DeMeco Ryans, HOU
IND: HC Shane Steichen, IND
JAX: HC Liam Coen, JAX
TEN: OLC Scott Fuchs, TEN
I just want to say, what Fuchs did with that O-Line after ‘guru’ Father Callahan was jettisoned...it was one of the best coaching jobs of 2025...the O-Line was great the last month+ of the season, where it was THEE worst for 1.5 yrs under Father Callahan.
Shane Steichen had this at the halfway point of the season, but Liam Coen gets it for us for the full season.
AFC South Winner = HC Liam Coen, JAX
