MVP: Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills
For the past two years, Josh Allen has proved that he can be a great quarterback in the NFL, throwing for 8951 yards, 73 touchdowns, completing 66% of his passes, but in the 2021 playoffs Josh Allen was different, as in 2 games he throw for 637 yards, 9 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, while completing 77.4% of his passes. Josh Allen also showed his great rushing ability over his career, as in his 4 seasons in the NFL, Allen has rushed for 2,325 yards, with 31 touchdowns and averaging 5.5 yards per rushing attempt. The Bills have fallen short of glory for seasons in a row, but this season is the perfect opportunity for the Bills to go out and compete for a super bowl, with Josh Allen competing for an MVP, as the Bills brought in extra reinforcements to help Josh Allen succeed, and this year is Josh Allen’s final year on his rookie deal, making 4.1 million dollars, having a 16.4 million dollar cap hit. Allen’s 6 year, 258 million dollar contract extension starts next season. The Bills have a very complete offense built around Josh Allen, having a solid offensive line and much improved offensive line from last season, as they brought in David Quessenberry and Rodger Saffold in free agency who can help improve the Bills in run blocking, which is what they struggled in last season. The Bills also have guys who are solid pass blockers, such as Dion Dawkins and Ryan Bates. The Bills also have solid receiving threats for Josh Allen to throw to, such as Stefon Diggs, who is a game changing wide receiver, who is one of the best route runners in the NFL, also Gabriel Davis will be stepping into a bigger role in the Bills offense, Josh Allen also has a great redzone presence in Dawson Knox to throw to. The Bills also brought in 2 more weapons in free agency, in Jamison Crowder, who is good at beating man coverage, to replace Cole Beasley in the slot, the Bills also brought in O.J. Howard, who is hoping to revitalize his career on the Bills. The Bills have a much improved running back room, as they drafted James Cook in 2nd round of the NFL Draft, who is a great receiving back, which was something that the Bills lacked this season, who can line up on the line scrimmage and run routes successfully, the Bills also have Devin Singletary, who is a solid running back, who could improve this season with a much improved offensive line. One massive problem is that Brian Daboll, the Bills offensive coordinator, left the Bills to take a head coaching job for the New York Giants, Brian Daboll was an instrumental part in Josh Allen’s development for the past 4 years. The Bills did promote Ken Dorsey, the Bills quarterbacks coach to become their new offensive coordinator, who has also helped Josh Allen develop.
OPOY: Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
Justin Jefferson had an incredible season last season, having 1616 yards, on 108 receptions, with 10 touchdowns, and being named a 2021 NFL All-Pro. The Vikings fired Mike Zimmer and brought in the Rams offensive coordinator, Kevin O’Connell. Kevin O’Connell was a huge part in the Rams winning the super bowl, but also Kevin O’Connell was a big reason why Cooper Kupp had one of the best seasons by a wide receiver ever, as he used Cooper Kupp in many different ways, and lined him up at different positions, and used a lot of motions, to determine whether the defense was playing man or zone. If Kevin O’Connell could use Justin Jefferson in a similar way that he used Cooper Kupp last season, then Justin Jefferson should improve on his numbers from last season and he could even have a historically great season like the one Kupp had last season. Justin Jefferson is a great deep route runner, and Kirk Cousins throws a pretty good deep ball, one problem with Kirk Cousins that could hurt Justin Jefferson is that Cousins holds the for long. Jefferson is one of the best route runners in the NFL and he can get open with ease. The one thing that Justin Jefferson needs to fix in order to be contention to win OPOY is his drop issues, as he led the NFL in drops last season.
DPOY: Myles Garrett, DE, Cleveland Browns
Last season, Myles Garrett was a complete force to be reckoned with, having 16 sacks, 17 tackles for loss, and 33 quarterback hits, while also being named an NFL All-Pro. The Cleveland Browns brought in even more help off the edge, taking some of the pressure off of Myles Garrett. The Browns signed defensive tackle, Taven Bryant and defensive end, Isaac Rochell. The Browns also drafted defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey in the fourth round of this year's NFL Draft and defensive end Alex Wright in the third round of this year’s NFL Draft. Lastly, the Browns traded for Chase Winovich from the New England Patriots, adding these to a defensive line that already consists of Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney. Adding all of these reinforcements could take some of the attention off of Garrett, giving him easier opportunities to get to the quarterback. The schedule of offensive lines that Myles Garrett has to face is not spectacular, and Myles Garrett has proved that he could take advantage of playing against worse offensive lines. The way that Myles Garrett can win defensive player of the year is if he does not slow down and keeps up his elite early season production, as last season, in his final 7 games he had 3 sacks, while in his first 10 games he had 13 sacks.
OROY: Garrett Wilson, WR, New York Jets
The New York Jets did not have a great wide receiver room last season, and adding Garrett Wilson definitely bolsters that wide receiver core, especially after losing one of their top receivers in free agency, Jamison Crowder. Garrett Wilson produced very well, even though he had two other top receivers in the country on his team in Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Chris Olave. He had 1,058 receiving yards, 13 total touchdowns and 70 receptions. Being in a weaker receiving core could mean that Garrett Wilson has more opportunities to produce at a higher rate. Garrett Wilson is a great deep threat with great speed, and Zach Wilson has amazing arm strength and good deep ball accuracy, which could make a dangerous connection between Wilson and Wilson, and it could allow Zach Wilson to throw the deep ball more and become more confident throwing his deep ball. The quarterback situation could be a bit problematic for the Jets, as Zach Wilson recently tore his meniscus and suffered a bone bruise, which could possibly sideline him for multiple games, making the Jets either having to start Mike White or Joe Flacco, who both don’t have great arm strength.
DROY: Aidan Hutchinson, Edge, Detroit Lions
After a successful season for the Michigan Wolverines during the 2021 college football season, putting up 14 sacks, and 16.5 tackles for loss, while winning the Lombardi Award, the Ted Hendricks Award, Lott IMPACT Trophy, and coming in second place in Heisman Trophy voting, Aidan Hutchinson was selected with the 2nd overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Lions needed to add youth on their defensive line, as Michael Brockers is 31 years old, Charles Harris is 27 years old, and Romeo Okwara is 27 years old. The Lions do not have to play against a lot of teams with great offensive lines, which could be very beneficial to Aidan Hutchinson’s DROY chances. Aidan Hutchinson is a great leader who fits the culture Dan Campbell has created in Detroit very well. Hutchinson can help the Lions become better based off of his leadership, but Hutchinson is just a great leader, he is an incredible athlete that has great strength, who is very NFL ready. The Lions do not have a great defensive line surrounding Aidan Hutchinson, which could put more attention on him, leading Hutchinson to get double teamed, which would make his production and his amount of pressures decrease.
CPOY: Michael Thomas, WR, New Orleans Saints
MIchael Thoms has struggled with injuries since week 1 of the 2020 NFL season, first suffering a high ankle sprain, then having a hamstring injury, and lastly suffering from another high ankle sprain missing the last three games of the 2020 season, during rehab, Thomas had a setback that kept him sidelined for the whole entire 2021 NFL season. The season before Michael Thomas started to become plagued with injuries, he had one of the best wide receiver seasons of all time, having 1,725 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 149 receptions which broke the record for the most receptions in a single season. Over the past two years, the Saints have had one of the worst passing attacks in the NFL, having little to no huge threats at wide receiver when Michael Thomas was back. Michael Thomas still has solid quarterback play with Jameis Winston under center, having Winston as the Saints quarterback allows the Saints to expand Thomas’ route tree, as when Drew Brees was the Saints quarterback when Thomas had his spectacular season, Brees was soon to be ending his career and had little arm strength, which limited Thomas’ route tree. The Saints did bring in more wide receivers to help their passing attack, signing Jarvis Landry in free agency and drafting Chris Olave in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft, but these acquisitions should not lower Thomas’ production, but they will take some of the workload off of him. The worry for Michael Thomas is that even though he seems to be fully healthy going into the season, it will be interesting to see how effortlessly he bounces back from being sidelined for more than a year straight. If Thomas could back seamlessly then he should produce at a good level like he did for the first 4 years of his career.
COTY: Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills
During Sean McDermott’s time with the Buffalo Bills he has proved that he is one of the best coaches in the NFL, going 49-32 in his first 5 years coaching the Bills. McDermott has also led the Bills to 4 playoff appearances in his first 5 years with the Bills, including an appearance in the 2020 AFC championship against the Kansas City Chiefs. This is the perfect time for the Bills to compete for a Super Bowl, as this is superstar quarterback Josh Allen’s last year on his rookie deal. The Bills have a very well rounded team both on offense and defense. On offense they have one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL in Josh Allen, they also have one of the top wide receivers in the NFL in Stefon Diggs. Other than their star players on offense they have a lot of solid players at all different positions. The offense has gone through a change because former offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll was hired to become the head coach of the New York GIants. The Bills promoted Ken Dorsey to become their new offensive coordinator, who was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for the Bills last season. Other than having a solid offense, the Bills have a great defense, with star power at different levels of the defense such as Tre’Davious White at cornerback, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde at safety, and Von Miller on the defensive line. The Bills team did not change very much this off season, which means that Sean McDermott should be very comfortable coaching this team, and the players should feel comfortable playing under Sean McDermott. The main addition for the Bills this off season was signing Von Miller on a 6 year contract worth up to $120 million, Miller adds a great veteran presence and a winning mentality, but he also brings in his winning experiences, having won 2 Super Bowls, one with the Broncos in 2015 and one with the Rams last season. The Bills were lacking someone with experience winning a super bowl, and Von Miller adds that to the Bills.