Myles Garrett, Joe Flacco Headline Handful Of Browns Up For AP Awards At NFL Honors
The Cleveland Browns may not being playing in the Super Bowl this year, but their memorable season could still involve bringing home some hardware in the week leading up to the big game.
On Thursday, the Associated Press revealed the 2023 finalists for the NFL's annual AP Awards and this year's finalists include two Browns players and coaches.
Star pass rusher Myles Garrett headlines the list of potential award winners as he's one of five finalists in the running for the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award. Garrett may have seen a sharp drop-off in sacks over the final seven games of the season after pacing the league through the first 10 weeks, but his presence on the field each week was felt beyond the stat sheet for Cleveland. He ultimately finished with 14 sacks, 30 QB hits, 17 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles and one recovery.
Garrett was already named the Pro Football Writers of America's Defensive Player of the Year this week, which bodes well for him winning the AP Award as well. There's only been four years that the PFWA's winner and the AP's winner weren't the same,
The other player up for an award is veteran QB Joe Flacco, who took over the Browns starting QB job in December and went on to become one of the best stories in the NFL after spending the first 11 weeks of the season at home watching football.
The former Raven threw for 1,616 yards and 13 touchdowns in five games down the stretch of Cleveland's season, posting a 4-1 record that helped the team clinch a playoff berth for just the third time since the organization was reestablished in 1999. That magical run by Flacco – which featured four straight games of 300-plus yards passing for the first time in franchise history – has earned him recognition as one of the five finalists for AP Comeback Player of the Year. He's in the mix with Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who returned to play football this season experiencing cardiac arrest in a game in 2022 and needing to be nursed back to life. Ex-Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is also up for the award.
On the coaching front, head coach Kevin Stefanski finds himself among four other respectable candidates for the AP Coach of the Year Award. Stefanski may prove most deserving after leading the Browns to an 11-6 season and a playoff appearance as they navigated more than a dozen season-ending injuries. On the offensive side of the ball alone, Cleveland lost starters at both tackle sports, its top backup tackle, as well as quarterback Deshaun Watson and face of the franchise, running back Nick Chubb.
Despite starting five different quarterbacks throughout the season, Stefanski captained a resilient team back to the postseason for the second time in his tenure with the franchise. It was the first time in NFL history a team made the playoffs under those circumstances.
Oct 15, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski looks up from his play sheet against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports
Last, but certainly not least, is defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who is one of the five NFL assistants up for AP Assistant Coach of the Year. The 57-year-old was the mastermind behind the Browns top rated defense – by a number of metrics – in 2023. The meteoric rise by that unit represented an impressive turnaround from being one of the league's worst in the season prior. The Browns finished the regular season No. 1 in yards per game allowed. Additionally, they were top 10 in takeaways, passing yards allowed per game, rushing yards allowed per game and total sacks, among other statistical categories.
The winners of each award will be announced as part of the NFL Honors award show, on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 9 p.m. ET.
