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With the end of another NFL season and Super Bowl 60's arrival, it's time for the outlets covering the league to hand out major individual NFL awards. For Sporting News, that means revealing our prestigious pro football honors, too. The long-standing process was the same for 2025, as all the worthy recipients were determined by peer voting from around the league.
For Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, and Rookie of the Year, the winners were selected by fellow players. The ballots received for Offensive Player of the Year were the most since players began participating in the voting in 2008.
Only head coaches were allowed to vote for Coordinator of the Year and Coach of the Year. Only front-office staff and personnel decision-makers were allowed to vote for Executive of the Year.
In every case, players, coaches, and executives were advised not to pick anyone from their own team. Ballots were sent out electronically around the league, with a majority of teams voting before the early-January deadline. Below are those results.
MORE: Meet SN's NFL All-Pro team | History of Sporting News' NFL awards
Offensive Player of the Year: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seahawks
2025 stats: 119 receptions on 163 targets for 1,793 receiving yards, 10 receiving TDs, 15.1 yards per reception, 105.5 receiving yards per game
Smith-Njigba carried the Seahawks' passing game with more than 46 percent of their receiving yards to lift Sam Darnold to another strong season coming over from the Vikings. He had a major statistical spike after being a sensational sophomore in 2024 with 100 receptions for 1,130 yards and 6 TDs.
JSN had a incredible catch rate of 73.0 to match what he did in Year 2. He has more than lived up to being the first wide receiver taken in the 2023 NFL Draft at No. 20 overall, right ahead of Quentin Johnston (Chargers), Zay Flowers (Ravens) and Jordan Addison (Vikings).
Smith-Njigba is the first wide receiver since the Vikings' Justin Jefferson to take home SN OPOY in 2022. Before Jefferson, only Antonio Brown and Jerry Rice (as a singular NFL player of the year) have taken the honor among wideouts.
JSN was the runaway winner in votes, almost doubling up the combined second- and third-place totals between Patriots quarterback Drake Maye and 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
MORE: Why JSN is SN's OPOY over Drake Maye, Christian McCaffrey
Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett, EDGE Browns
2025 stats: NFL record 23 sacks, 60 total tackles (43 solo, 17 assists), 33 total tackles for loss, 39 quarterback hits, 3 forced fumbles, pass defensed
Garrett dominated with his pass rush like no other defensive end or outside linebacker in the modern era. He also remain a nasty run stopper in the Browns' front. He is the unquestioned best and most indispensable defensive player in the NFL today. Garrett also dominated the votes outside of Cleveland, rocking well past fellow SN All-Pro end Will Anderson Jr. of Houston.
Garrett wins SN DPOY for the third consecutive time, a first in the history of our awards. His three awards tie the all-time SN DPOY career total of J.J. Watt, who won in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Rams legend Aaron Donald (2) is the only other multiple-time winner.
Comeback Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey, RB, 49ers
2025 stats: 311 carries, 1,202 rushing yards, 10 rushing TDs, 102 receptions on 129 targets, 924 receiving yards, 7 receiving TDs
With overcoming injury adversity becoming the top criteria for CPOY, McCaffrey played through all 17 regular-season games in 2025 after playing in only four for San Francisco in 2024. He missed the early part of '24 coming off calf and Achilles' injuries and went back on the shelf in December with a right knee (PCL) injury soon after his November return.
Although his running wasn't as explosive as past seasons, CMC was a huge threat for a 49ers' passing game all season long that kept losing key receivers for Brock Purdy, falling just shy of his second career 1,000-1,000 season but still hitting 2,126 scrimmage yards with 17 total TDs.
McCaffrey had a much closer vote than JSN and Garrett. He edged out Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs, Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and Colts quarterback Daniel Jones to win the award.
Rookie of the Year: Emeka Egbuka, WR, Buccaneers
2025 stats: 63 receptions on 127 targets, 938 receiving yards, 6 receiving TDs, 14.9 yards per reception
There was no dominant standout rookie in 2025 like in years past, including Commanders QB Jayden Daniels last season. Egbuka is still the fifth offensive player and fourth wide receiver to take the singular ROTY in six years, joining Daniels, the Rams' Puka Nacua, the Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase and the Vikings' Justin Jefferson. Egbuka is the 10th overall rookie wide receiver to win the award since 1980.
Egbuka won by a wide margin over fellow first-round rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan of Carolina, who had 70 catches on 122 targets for 1,014 yards and 7 TDs while also playing for an NFC South team.
The top quarterback in SN ROY voting was the Giants' Jaxson Dart, well ahead of the Saints' Tyler Shough.
Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel, Patriots
Vrabel had some tough competition this season, edging out the 49ers' Kyle Shanahan and the Seahawks' Mike Macdonald. Neither the Jaguars' Liam Coen nor the Bears' Ben Johnson received votes from their peers in one of the most crowded Coach of the Year votes in recent history.
Vrabel won the award for the second time in his career, having also being named COTY in 2021 while still with the Titans.
In winning the SN award with two teams, Vrabel joins Don Shula (Colts, Dolphins), Chuck Knox (Rams, Bills, Seahawks), Dick Vermeil (Eagles, Rams), Andy Reid (Eagles, Chiefs) who did it before him as leaders of multiple franchises.
The Patriots went from 4-13 in 2024 to a ten-game turnaround at 14-3 with a young defense and quarterback Drake Maye breaking out at the same time, only two years removed from the tenure of Vrabel's one-time mentor, Bill Belichick.
MORE: Why Mike Vrabel won SN Coach of the Year over Kyle Shanahan, Mike Macdonald
Coordinator of the Year: Klint Kubiak, OC, Seahawks
Kubiak took home the award that has been around since only 2008. With the exception of Todd Wash (2017) and Eric Bieniemy (2020), the other 12 SN Coordinators of the Year all have been or went on to become head coaches.
That prestigious previous group includes Kyle Shanahan, Robert Saleh, DeMeco Ryans, Macdonald and 2024 winner Ben Johnson. Kubiak has a special place with Wade Phillips (Bum) and Kyle Shanahan (Mike), being the son of a notable former coach, 2015 Broncos Super Bowl winner Gary. Klint's brother Klay Kubiak works for the 49ers, where Klint Kubiak was under Shahahan as late as 2023 before moving on to New Orleans and Seattle the past two seasons.
Kubiak did a terrific job replacing Ryan Grubb, who was under Macdonald for one season. He led a strong run-heavy offense and got another big winning season from Darnold.
Executive of the Year: John Schneider, GM, Seahawks
Schneider was a near-unanimous selection with only a handful of other decision-making executives getting votes from their peers. Schneider, despite thriving in Seattle's job since 2010, wins SN's award for the first time in his second year in the role of football operations president to go with his general manager title.
Schneider made key veteran moves in trading Geno Smith and replacing him at QB with Darnold, signing wide receiver Cooper Kupp and edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence and trading for wideout/return ace Rashid Shaheed. Schneider also got two key starters in the draft early as well, in first-round guard Gray Zabel and second-round safety Nick Emmanwori.
Schneider has been stockpiling Seattle with talent for a while, first with Pete Carroll and then without him for two years. He is well deserved and overdue for his recognition.
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