2025 NFL Midseason Awards: Who Holds Edge in Hotly Contested MVP Race?

[ad_1] Earlier than the season, it could have been very troublesome to foretell our NFL midseason award winners.

Now that we're on the 2025 season's halfway level, we surveyed FOX Sports activities' NFL reporters to get their picks for every of the league's main awards. The MVP race appears to be as compelling as ever and not using a clear favourite, whereas each Rookie of the Yr awards are up for grabs, solely including to the intrigue.

So, let's check out our workers's picks for every of the main NFL awards midway by way of the season.

Ben Arthur: Drake Maye has been the NFL’s most persistently dominant and environment friendly quarterback this season. And fairly frankly, it’s not even shut.

In Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, the previous UNC star recorded not less than 200 passing yards and a 100-plus passer score for the eighth straight recreation. He is simply the fourth quarterback in league historical past to perform that feat in a single season, in response to Subsequent Gen Stats. It so occurs that the opposite passers to attain the milestone — Peyton Manning (2004), Tom Brady (2007) and Aaron Rodgers (2011,2020) — all received MVP that season.

Why Drake Maye is Julian Edelman's MVP Choose Over Patrick Mahomes & Josh Allen By way of 9 weeks, Maye leads the NFL in completion fee, completion fee over anticipated and anticipated factors added, per NGS. He’s all of the harder to recreation plan in opposition to due to his mobility and deep-throwing skill.

RELATED: The Key Ingredient in Patriots QB Drake Maye's Meteoric Rise

Henry McKenna: If the MVP is a quarterback (and it will likely be), then the OPOY might be a non-QB talent participant. And for me, that’s Jonathan Taylor, who has been the centerpiece because the Colts dismantle opposing defenses in methods corresponding to the 2007 Patriots and the flip of the century Rams, the so-called "Best Present on Turf."

That also doesn’t actually make sense, evaluating Daniel Jones and Taylor’s unit to Tom Brady and Randy Moss’ group. However that’s what the statistics are telling us, which is all of the extra motive to assist Taylor’s candidacy for this award.

However it’s clearly not simply concerning the crew stats. It’s about what Taylor is on tempo to do: 1,690 dashing yards, 412 receiving yards, and 26 complete touchdowns. Taylor is ideal for this technique. With that form of manufacturing, he ought to simply edge a receiver like Ja’Marr Chase and even Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Greg Auman: This isn’t a simple one to select. Myles Garrett has 10 sacks, one off Brian Burns’ NFL-leading 11, and Garrett leads the NFL with 15 tackles for loss. However 5 of his sacks got here in a single recreation, and he’s on a 2-6 crew. That is a person honor, but it surely carries extra weight when you’re main the protection on a profitable crew. You can also make a case for Micah Parsons, a giant a part of why Inexperienced Bay is 5-2-1 with a top-five protection.

For me, a very powerful foreign money for a defensive participant is game-changing performs, and Hutchinson already has 4 pressured fumbles to go along with seven sacks. Garrett has one pressured fumble, Parsons has none, so what Hutchinson has executed in producing takeaways greater than offsets just a few extra sacks by different gamers.

I can perceive selecting Garrett right here, and I’ll additionally point out Nik Bonitto of the Denver Broncos and Will Anderson Jr. of the Houston Texans, each main top-five defenses. However for now, a detailed name goes to Hutchinson.

A wholesome Aidan Hutchinson has made Detroit's protection an elite unit as soon as once more. (Todd Rosenberg/Getty Photographs)

Offensive Rookie of the Yr: Tyler Warren, TE, Indianapolis Colts Ralph Vacchiano: That is shaping up as an unbelievable race with three spectacular candidates at receiver and tight finish, who all have emerged as prime weapons for his or her groups, plus one electrical rookie quarterback in New York. However whereas Jaxson Dart could also be exhausting to beat in the long term, the receivers and tight ends had been essentially the most dynamic gamers of the primary half.

Panthers broad receiver Tetairoa McMillan (37 catches, 512 yards, two touchdowns) is flourishing regardless of a multitude of a quarterback scenario in Carolina. And Tampa Bay Buccaneers broad receiver Emeka Egbuka (34-562-6) has been a robust weapon at the same time as all the remainder of the crew's receivers have collapsed round him.

However neither has been extra spectacular than Colts tight finish Tyler Warren (37-492-3), who not solely is holding tempo with these electrical receivers, however he’s doing it whereas being a robust blocker, too. Tight ends traditionally don’t put up large receiving numbers as rookies, however Warren is on the identical historic tempo that the Raiders’ Brock Bowers was on final season. He is been a big-play issue within the Colts’ revived offense, and he’s an enormous assist to what has develop into the sixth-best dashing assault within the league.

Ultimately, Warren may not have the ability to sustain with the numbers of Egbuka and McMillan — and if Dart can put collectively a few large video games and steal just a few extra wins, it may not matter anyway — however he definitely is holding tempo proper now. And he does a heck of much more, too.

Ralph Vacchiano: There may be not a single defensive rookie who jumps off both the stat sheet or the movie to date this yr, which makes this race broad open. It additionally makes it becoming that the steadiest rookie of all of them is the midseason choose for this award.

Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger is unquestionably not flashy, however he’s in every single place within the Cleveland protection. His 64 tackles rank eleventh in the whole league. He does have one sack and one interception however usually doesn’t have game-changing performs. He has simply been good and good, each in run protection and protection.

Whether or not that’s adequate to win the award ultimately stays to be seen, as a result of the competitors is perhaps fierce within the second half. Giants edge rusher Abdul Carter seems to be, at occasions, like essentially the most disruptive rookie within the NFL, however he’s having bother ending (only a half sack). Eagles linebacker Jihaad Campbell has been usually simply as strong and spectacular as Schwesinger, however Schwesinger stands out for his regular play all season. That is perhaps the profitable technique the best way this race is shaping up.

Coach of the Yr: Shane Steichen, Indianapolis Colts Eric D. Williams: Kyle Shanahan is a worthy candidate due to his skill to maintain the San Francisco 49ers aggressive by way of a rash of accidents, which included dropping his two finest defensive gamers for the season in Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. Mike Vrabel earns a point out for his fast turnaround in New England. Todd Bowles in Tampa Bay, Mike Macdonald in Seattle and Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh additionally deserve a tip of the hat.

Nevertheless, my midseason award goes to the coach of one other crew with lowered expectations coming into this season. Colts head coach Shane Steichen has the league’s prime offense, led by the NFL’s newest reclamation venture at quarterback in Daniel Jones. Operating again Jonathan Taylor is taking part in at an MVP degree, and the Colts have an opportunity to earn the highest seed within the AFC. It’s a formidable teaching job for a man below immense strain to carry out at the beginning of the season, together with Colts common supervisor Chris Ballard.

Daniel Jones (left) and Shane Steichen have been a match made in heaven this season. (Michael Hickey/Getty Photographs)

Ben Arthur: There are a number of sturdy candidates right here, however Niners do-everything working again Christian McCaffrey stands out by way of 9 weeks.

After lacking 13 video games final season, he has returned to famous person type — although it looks like he is a bit below the radar due to San Francisco’s harm points. McCaffrey leads the NFL in scrimmage touches (229) and yards (1,222). The 2-time All-Professional can be on tempo to have greater than 1,000 yards dashing and receiving in a single season for the second time.

Need nice tales delivered proper to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports activities account, and comply with leagues, groups and gamers to obtain a personalised publication every day!