Justin Jefferson a finalist for MVP, Offensive Player of the Year awards
Justin Jefferson has a great shot to be name the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year as he was named a finalist for the honor on Wednesday. And while his odds of winning the MVP don't appear to be as high, he's also a finalist for that award.
Jefferson's competition for the Offensive Player of the Year award includes fellow wide receiver, Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. The winner will be announced during the NFL Honors show on Feb. 9.
By the numbers, here's how the four superstars compare:
- Jefferson: 128 catches for 1,809 yards and 9 TD (1 rushing)
- Hill: 119 catches for 1,710 yards and 8 TD (1 rushing)
- Mahomes: 5,250 pass yards, 41 TD, 12 INT, 358 rush yards, 4 TD
- Hurts: 3,701 pass yards, 21 TD, 6 INT, 760 rush yards, 13 TD
In the MVP race, Jefferson is finalist alongside Mahomes, Hurts, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Bills quarterback Josh Allen. A wide receiver has never won the MVP award.
Meanwhile, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell is not among the five finalists for the Coach of the Year award. Those spots were given to the Eagles' Nick Sirianni, San Francisco's Kyle Shanahan, New York Giants coach Brian Daboll, Sean McDermott of the Bills and Jacksonville's Doug Pederson.
O'Connell led the Vikings to a 13-4 record, the NFC North title and the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs in his first season as head coach. Also snubbed were Cincinnati head coach Zach Taylor and and Dan Campbell, who led the Lions back from the dead after starting the season 1-6 to finish 9-8, narrowly missing the playoffs.
Related: What if a top QB prospect falls to the Vikings in the draft?
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.