NFL midseason awards: Who would win MVP, DPOY & more if season ended today?

Tennessee Titans v Kansas City Chiefs
Tennessee Titans v Kansas City Chiefs

Offensive Rookie of the Year

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Tennessee Titans v Houston Texans
Tennessee Titans v Houston Texans

This is another award that has leaned heavily towards quarterbacks in recent years. For instance, Justin Herbert blew away Justin Jefferson in 2020, while Kyler Murray won it over Josh Jacobs the previous year.

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But with Kenny Pickett struggling as the lone rookie QB with extended action at this point, we can deal with the other guys. Running backs, in particular, have really shone so far.

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#1 Dameon Pierce

The Texans are 1-6-1 so far, with just one of their losses coming by fewer than seven points. They’re probably in the market for a new quarterback and coaching staff. So this really is a lost season for them and there are very few bright spots.

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With that being said, their rookie running back has been awesome to watch. There was never a question that he’d be the best and most complete back for Houston and he’s handled 74.3% of touches for that backfield.

He’s turned those into 678 rushing yards, which ranks sixth in the NFL right now, and in terms of yards per game (84.8), he actually moves up one spot to make it into the top five.

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He’s good at incorporating micro-movements to set up blockers and not allow defenders to square him in the hole, meaning guys can’t bring him down without gaining multiple extra yards.

The Texans use a lot of duo and GT power runs, where his ability to change up his footwork on the fly and work in sudden bursts keeps second-level defenders from being able to mirror and get straight wraps on him.

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He also might just be the angriest ball carrier in the game right now, just refusing to go down, stiff-arming guys to the ground or straight-up trucking whoever is in his path.

Not counting his untouched 75-yard TD versus the Chargers, where he did make the safety miss a good 10 yards in, an absurd 83.4% of his ground production has come after contact.

His involvement in the passing game has also seen an uptick since early in the season. He's mostly a check-down option (20 catches for 98 yards), but he’s produced some teaching tape on pass pro reps, where he’s stonewalled linebackers in the gap.

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#2 Kenneth Walker III

Seattle Seahawks v Arizona Cardinals
Seattle Seahawks v Arizona Cardinals

Unlike the Texans' rookie runner, who has been the workhorse in that backfield since week two, Walker has to wait his turn a little. Working his way back from a hernia procedure, he broke loose for a 69-yard touchdown against the Saints, once Rashaad Penny went down with what turned out to be a season-ending ankle injury.

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However, over the past four weeks as a starter, he has been the most productive back in the league. He’s averaged 106 yards on the ground (on 22 carries per game) and scored six touchdowns over that stretch, along with 34 receiving yards.

Ever since he’s been handed the reins, it has been clear what a special ball carrier he is. After a breakout season as a transfer to Michigan State, when he won the Doak Walker award for the top running back in the nation, he ended up being drafted second at his position after Breece Hall.

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KW3’s ability to string together moves and make defenders miss was his calling card in college and he’s carried that over smoothly to the pro level. According to PFF, he’s already seventh in the league with 31 missed tackles forced, despite not having touched the ball more than eight times until week six.

Walker has crazy agility and can make defenders look like they’re stuck in quicksand. He can also plant and navigate around blocks, and has been deadly cutting back across the grain after forcing the entire defense to flow with him.

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He does a great job of minimizing the surface area opponents can hit and pulls himself through wraps. Then, of course, he has true home-run speed, indicated by an NFL season-high 22.09 mph on his game-sealing touchdown run against the Chargers a couple of weeks ago.

#3 Chris Olave

New Orleans Saints v Arizona Cardinals
New Orleans Saints v Arizona Cardinals

Let’s throw a receiver in here, as one guy stands above the rest of this rookie class. The only player who even comes close to matching Chris Olave’s 618 receiving yards (on 43 catches) is his former Ohio State teammate Garrett Wilson on the Jets (521). No other rookie has even cracked 400.

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That places the Saints standout ninth league-wide, sandwiched between two potential Hall of Fame receivers in Davante Adams and Mike Evans. And he’s done so on 249 routes, which ranks 32nd in the NFL.

Ever since Michael Thomas fooled us into thinking he was finally back from injury over the first couple of weeks, Olave has been the unquestioned primary target in the passing game, with nearly double the yardage of the next-closest player, which is running back Alvin Kamara (319).

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And while he has delivered some big plays down the field, he has been a consistent chain-mover for New Orleans. Twenty-eight of his 43 receptions have resulted in first downs and several of them have come in got-to-have-it situations.

He has only reached the end-zone twice, but that is more due to how heavily the Saints have featured Taysom Hill at the goal line. Other than Thomas’ three TDs when he was still in there, the WR corp for this team has accounted for only five scores.

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Olave looked like the most pro-ready receiver coming into the draft this past April, considering his ability to manipulate defenders at break point, his feel for zone-coverage, and how consistently he frames the ball when it arrives there.

He’s also great at threatening vertically off the ball, snapping off routes and working back down the ladder on curls, hooks and comebacks. His ability to get to the edges of defenders in press alignment has been impressive and he’s always been really smooth with changing up speeds and not losing it as he bends routes.

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Olave isn’t a YAC specialist, but he displays tremendous awareness for ancillary coverage defenders and for how to secure catches, while only having dropped two passes in the season.

Honorable mentions: Garrett Wilson & Breece Hall

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Edited by Arvind Sriram
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