The end of another regular season brings with it awards time, designed to honor the players who excelled and elevated themselves above their peers as the best of the best. Weve already announced the PFF All-Pro Team and after our ever first Special Teams All-Pro Team put up yesterday, were kicking off the individual awards today with the Offensive Player of the Year.
The 2014 season saw somewhat of a changing of the guard with a number of the familiar candidates sliding away a little and a new crop of offensive superstars making their presence felt. New sets of triplets emerged in Dallas and Pittsburgh while some familiar faces returned from injury-ravaged 2013 seasons to re-establish themselves atop the offensive totem pole.
In past years we have featured a Top 3, a Top 4 and even a Top 10 in our final award listing. This year we have gone for a Top 5 which inevitably means that some worthy candidates will miss out, but there isnt space for every offensive player who had a great season. Here are the choices of our analysis staff.
4th Runner Up
LeVeon Bell, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
The raw rushing yardage total may not match DeMarco Murrays but there was not a better all-around...
3rd Runner Up
Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots
A return to full health for Gronkowski in 2014 and a reminder that he is the leagues best tight end both as a receiver and with...
2nd Runner Up
Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
You will struggle to find a more consistent performer over the last two months than Antonio Brown and though he might not be what you picture as a prototypical...
1st Runner Up
Marshal Yanda, G, Baltimore Ravens
Offensive linemen are gradually edging their way up our awards list, in recent seasons weve had Jason Peters in the Top 10, Evan Mathis fourth and Carl Nicks sixth but Yanda takes them to a new high...
Offensive Players of the Year
Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers
There should be very little surprise as to the identity of our Offensive Player of the Year with Rodgers in the process snagging this award for the third time in the last five years from us. The theme of the players towards the top of this list in this and any other year is relentless consistency. Other players may elevate themselves with isolated excellence, but players like Rodgers put in stunning performances week after week with Rodgers himself putting in a six-week spell in the middle of this season that was utterly mesmerizing.
Since the Packers bye week in Week 9 Rodgers has thrown 19 touchdowns with only two interceptions, earning a PFF passing grade of +20.5. In that same span, only two other quarterbacks (Drew Brees and Joe Flacco) topped +10.0, which only serves to emphasize how much Rodgers has separated himself from the competition this season. Whether you go by the stat sheet, the tape or a combination of both, Rodgers performance this season speaks for itself and deservedly takes this award for the first time since 2011.
