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

Coach of the Year

This is another category without clear parameters. Theoretically, the coaches who make the most of the talent they have at hand should win the award, but mostly it's the ones with the greatest records who receive the honors.

Of course, that’s the main indicator of how well a football team is coaches, but expectations coming into the year based on the roster available, and the ability to overcome adversity, should carry as much, if not more, weight. This season, there are probably more worthy candidates for this award than we’ve seen in a long time.

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#1 Brian Daboll

Considering the minimal expectations on the Giants heading into the season, having six wins (compared to only two losses) so far definitely qualifies them as overachievers.

Considering the horrible contracts brought on board by the Dave Gettleman regime, followed by a pretty eventless offseason and then the cutting of a Pro Bowl cornerback, expectations would not have been undercut had this team finished the season with six wins

Observing their offensive skill-position group, they have Saquon in his resurgent season and really nobody else. Kenny Golladay has been virtually basically unplayable, Sterling Shephard tore his ACL in week three and they recently traded former first-round pick Kadarius Toney to the Chiefs.

Yet, they continue to come up with unique designs and personnel combinations to create issues for defenses and put up enough points. Defensively, they’ve allowed Wink Martindale to bring the heat at certain moments, whilst having his backfield well-prepared for what’s coming.

The Giants are somehow 6-2, despite ranking 21st in overall DVOA. They stick around in games and are mentally tougher than their opponents when it comes to the fourth quarter, indicated by five game-winning drives led by Daniel Jones – two more than any other QB in the league.

The G-Men are early in their development compared to where they should be in this re-tooling phase and Daboll deserves a ton of credit for how he's turned things around. Since the NFC East is 24-9 combined and has three teams with at least six wins, the division title is probably out of reach, but the Giants are likely headed for a wildcard berth.

#2 Nick Sirianni

Pittsburgh Steelers v Philadelphia Eagles

People who really studied Philly’s roster and all the moves they made this offseason wouldn't have expected them to be 8-0 at this point even though they were set up for a very good season.

Sirianni deserves a lot of credit for steering this ship through the first half of the season without losing a game.

Jalen Hurts has put up MVP numbers in an offense perfectly suited to his skillset. The Eagles don't put a ton of pressure on him on a play-by-play basis, with the RPO game as their foundation and wrinkles to dress those concepts up differently.

The defense has gone from being a bland two- and three-deep coverage base, to now throwing all kinds of stuff at the wall. They’re now top-four in offensive and defensive DVOA, while having ascended to the top spot for the whole team (32.7%).

The Eagles understand their personnel and when to be aggressive, and add little variations to their weekly gameplans.

Looking at the rest of the schedule, they don’t face another team with a record of at least .500 for another month, and without another true powerhouse in the NFC, they might stroll towards the No. 1 seed in the conference.

#3 Robert Saleh

Let’s now get to “the other” New York team. There was a little bit more faith in the Jets coming into the season, having a highly talented second-year quarterback and a bunch of young talent brought in via the draft by a generally highly-regarded GM in Joe Douglas.

Robert Saleh, now in the midst of his second season with Gang Green, finally has the pieces defensively that he originally envisioned. That unit has gone from the very bottom of the league a year ago to seventh in DVOA as a group and tied for third with just 4.8 yards allowed per play, despite a challenging schedule. They held two of the most explosive offenses from their own division in the Dolphins and Bills to only 17 points each.

They can wreak havoc with their front four, they have heat-seeking missiles on the second level and their secondary is really good at passing off targets in zone coverage, while being able to challenge opponents with man on crucial downs.

They’ve been so good on that side of the ball that they haven’t needed their young QB to be the hero. It's been quite the opposite actually, as he’s cost them with some mistakes.

But on that side of the ball, Mike LaFleur has found ways to design some cool run plays, using a lot more pin-and-pulls and counters than we typically see from that offensive tree.

They’ve been able to find success on the ground, despite five different combinations on the starting O-line, and when they’ve gotten to the fourth quarter they’ve reigned in their young signal-caller to where he doesn’t make any big mistakes and has a passer rating of 104.2 (fifth-best in the league).

As a team, their point differential of +58 in fourth quarters is 25 higher than the next closest squad (Vikings with 33).

Honorable mentions: Kevin O’Connell & Pete Carroll