Comeback Player of the Year: Sam Darnold
Walter Payton Man of the Year: C.J. Ham
Assistant Coach of the Year: Brian Flores
Coach of the Year: Kevin O’Connell
From the start, it was a stretch for Sam Darnold to be up for Comeback Player of the Year. The award is intended to recognize a player that’s overcome some sort of setback. That setback is supposed to be a significant injury or an unfortunate tragedy. Darnold’s setback was a disappointing start to his career after being selected with the third pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He had a fantastic season in quarterbacking the Vikings to a 14-3 record. If there was an award for Most Improved Player of the Year, that award was his. Comeback Player of the Year was not his. It deservedly went to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Congratulations.
Darnold came in third.
As for the Walter Payton Man of the Year, any of the 32 players nominated is worthy of winning it. That’s true every year. They, and many other players across the league, are doing fantastic things in their communities. All deserve recognition for all the great things that they do. The deciders could simply pull a name from a hat and do the award justice. This year, C.J. Ham’s name wasn’t pulled. Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Arik Armstead’s name was. Congratulations.
For some reason, The Assistant Coach of the Year was announced before NFL Honors got started. Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson won the voting. He did a great job and it got him a head coach opportunity with the Chicago Bears. Congratulations. Brian Flores did a great job with the Vikings defense. He was runner-up in the voting. He didn’t get the head coach opportunity that he greatly deserves. Fortunately for the Vikings, he returns for a third season in Minnesota.
As for Coach of the Year honors, that went to Kevin O’Connell. Perhaps I’m more than a bit biased, this is very much deserved. O’Connell is a fantastic head coach and he did a fantastic job coaching the Vikings this season. Preseason expectations had his team winning about six games. The Vikings more than doubled those win expectations. None of the talking heads and slappy pundits had them finishing 14-3 and taking the NFC title chase to a Week 18 battle with the Detroit Lions. No one. O’Connell has become a coaching fixture in Minnesota and he has a new contract and a shiny trophy to prove it. Congratulations Coach!
The league even brought the spectacular celebrations of Cam Bynum and Josh Metellus to the NFL Honors stage. Perhaps the highlight of the program’s entertainment portion was the re-enactment of their White Chicks celebration. With the help of Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Kobe Turner and a couple other players, they even took a swing at a Dirty Dancing routine. Not since Kirk Cousins sang a duet with Kelly Clarkson have Vikings players been such a fun highlight of NFL Honors.
The greatest Vikings moment of the evening came with the announcement of Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025. After waiting four years too long, Jared Allen is finally getting his much deserved bust and spiffy gold jacket. He’s going to be honored in Canton next summer for his fantastic playing career.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025:
Jared Allen
Eric Allen
Antonio Gates
Sterling Sharpe
The Hall of Fame used a revised voting process this year. It resulted in the smallest Hall Class in about two decades. The changes were intended to make it a little more difficult to get into Canton. What it really did was build the logjam of deserving players. There’s a growing receiver problem among the Modern Era candidates. There are a load of players stuck in the Senior pool that deserve a bust. A few should’ve made it decades ago. Unfortunately, too many voters have shut the door on players that played before their time covering the game. Voters that refuse to acknowledge football’s past shouldn’t be tasked with honoring it. Anyway, these arguments are for another day. Last night was all about Jared Allen finally getting the Hall of Fame recognition that he deserves. Congratulations Jared Allen. I hope to see you in Canton in August.
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