BigBlueShoe at Stampede Blue was kind enough to host this year's SB Nation End of the Season Awards from the SBN Football bloggers. You can check out the winners of the award with running commentary here.
Here are the winners for the rest of you lazy souls:
Studs
NFL MVP: LaDanian Tomlison, RB Chargers
NFL Offensive Player of the Year: LaDanian Tomlison, RB Chargers
NFL Defensive Player of the Year: Brian Dawkins, S Eagles
NFL Coach of the Year: Sean Payton, Saints
NFL Rookie of the Year: Vince Young, QB Titans
Duds
Worst Player: Ben Roethlisberger, QB Steelers
Worst Coach: Art Shell, Raiders
Worst Rookie: Bobby Carpenter, LB Cowboys
Below you may find my own uninformed vote, with commentary. Please feel free to insult/dissect it:
NFL MVP: Drew Brees, New Orleans - I looked at the teams from 2005-2006 and no one had a more precipitous increase in production than the Saints, who went from a 3 win team to a 10 win team with one game remaining. Enormous credit to LT, but are they 5 wins better than they were in 2005 because of him? Did he improve that much in one year? (maybe he did, but I'm still going with Brees)
NFL Offensive Player: LaDanian Tomlinson, RB Chargers - LT is having a record setting season and currently pretty much doubles the 2nd place most prolific scoring RB in the league (LJ). No one can do what he does. To justify this with the MVP as Brees, I think Brees has less talent and has changed the team more than LT. Tomlinson is simply a beast and deserves credit as such.
NFL Defensive Player: Champ Bailey, CB Broncos - I think his league leading 9 interceptions is all the more impressive knowing that Quarterbacks avoid his side of the field. Remarks by Chad Johnson (essentially admitting that Bailey is a completely different kind of QB than anyone else) solidified my position.
NFL Coach: Sean Payton, New Orleans - Not to take anything away from my MVP, Payton deserves enormous credit for turning a 3 win team into a 10 win team that has already clinched division. Add in the storyline strength of the New Orleans Post-Katrina episode and I just cannot vote against him. Jeff Fisher also deserves enormous credit for turning a 4 win team into an 8 win team, as does Marty Dinosaur for turning a 9 win team into a 13 win team. But on pure turn around, Payton wins this.
NFL Rookie: Impossible. Never has there been such a prolific rookie class. We must include Vince Young, Joseph Addai, Maurice Jones-Drew, Devin Hester, DeMeco Ryan, Marcus McNeil, etc. So many of these guys would be locks on any other year that it is a shame one has to be chosen. Cadillac Williams won it last year with 6 touchdowns; Maurice Jones-Drew and Joseph Addai already have more. Addai has an edge on rushing but Jones-Drew has a good edge on TDs (14 total - incredible). All Vince Young does is win, though I think he's been much better with his legs then his arm, although even that has been so much better in recent weeks that I have to wonder whether his arm is even a weakness. DeMeco Ryan leads the NFL in solo tackles as a rookie, which I don't think has been done since Ray Lewis (has it?). Marcus McNeil has been leading LT to the single season touchdown record and deserves enormous credit for what he's done.
Despite all of that, I had to choose Devin Hester. We can argue about Vince Young having an amazing year for a rookie QB, but he isn't in the discussion in terms of best QBs of the year. He's great for a rookie, in other words, but isn't yet Pro Bowl material. Addai and Jones-Drew are no doubt great running backs (and not merely by rookie standards), but I do not know how to substantively separate the two. Is Addai better for his yards? Or Jones-Drew for his TD production. And are either really among the top 3 in the league at what they do? Similar questions for the others. But Devin Hester is unquestionably the best player at what he does in the NFL right now, and he happens to be a rookie. That's my easy-way-out of this question.
I will repeat that this is unquestionably the best Rookie group I've ever seen.
DUDS!
Worst Player: I can't choose Terrell Owens, though I want to. He has 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns and, at the very least, waited until the end of the year to ruin his team (if he does at all). Randy Moss went from a 1,000 yard receiver with 8 touchdowns to a totally ineffectual 500 yard receiver with 3 touchdowns. He will set career lows for yards, receptions, YPC, TDs, Longest Reception, 20+ yard receptions, 40+ yard receptions, and 1st downs. He is a parasite wherever he goes.
Worst Coach: Jon Gruden, TB - How much worse is Art Shell's Oakland? 4 wins in 2005 and 2 in 2006. That's not so bad. Jon Gruden's Bucs went from the cream of the NFC South (11 wins) to just another NFC cellar dwellar with 4 wins.
Worst Rookie: Bobby Carpenter, LB Cowboys - HOW 'BOUT DIS COWBOY?