Tua, Tyreek Finalists for AP Awards

Hill is up for the Offensive Player of the Year award

The NFL will announce its major award winners at NFL Honors three days before Super Bowl LVIII, and the Miami Dolphins now have two players among the finalists for one of those awards.

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill was named a finalist for the AP Offensive Player of the Year and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was named a finalist for the Comeback Player of the Year award.

The AP awards were voted on before the playoffs began by a panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL and will be announced Feb. 8.

Hill is up for the OPOY award along with NFL MVP finalists Lamar Jackson, Christian McCaffrey and Dak Prescott, with the fifth finalist being Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

McCaffrey was named this week as the Pro Football Writers of America's choice for Offensive Player of the Year, but that came in a vote of the entire PFWA membership.

Lamar Jackson should be considered the overwhelming favorite to be named NFL MVP and could double up with the Offensive Player of the Year award, though those have gone to two different players the past four years.

Patrick Mahomes was MVP last season while Justin Jefferson was OPOY; Aaron Rodgers was MVP in 2020 and 2021 when the OPOYs were Derrick Henry and Cooper Kupp, respectively; and Jackson was the 2019 MVP when the OPOY was Michael Thomas of the Saints.

The last player to win both awards was Mahomes in 2018.

Hill broke his own Dolphins franchise record with 1,799 yards this season and would have had a legitimate shot at reaching the historic 2,000-yard mark if not for the ankle injury he sustained in the Dec. 11 game against the Tennessee Titans that forced him to miss a game and slowed him down the rest of the season.

Tua is a finalist for the Comeback Player of the Year award after returning from multiple concussions to play every game in the 2023 season.

The other finalists are QB Joe Flacco of the Cleveland Browns, S Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills, QB Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and QB Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams.

Hamlin, who suffered cardiac arrest in a January regular season game at Cincinnati before being revived, is considered the prohibitive favorite to win this award.

Other finalists with Dolphins ties include former Miami interim head coach Dan Campbell, who's up for Coach of the Year; Bobby Slowik, the brother of Dolphins outside linebackers coach Ryan Slowik and the OC of the Houston Texans, being up for Assistant Coach of the Year; and Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr., the son of the former Dolphins linebacker, up for Defensive Rookie of the Year.

NFL Honors, which debuted in 2012, will also feature the announcement of the prestigious Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year presented by Nationwide and the newest Pro Football Hall of Fame Class the week leading up to the Super Bowl.

AP AWARD FINALISTS

Here's the complete list of 2023 NFL award finalists (players listed alphabetically):

NFL MVP

QB Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills

QB Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

QB Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

QB Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

COACH OF THE YEAR

Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions

John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens

DeMeco Ryans, Houston Texans

Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers

Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns

ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR

OC Ben Johnson, Detroit Lions

DC Mike Macdonald, Baltimore Ravens

OC Todd Monken, Baltimore Ravens

DC Jim Schwartz, Cleveland Browns

OC Bobby Slowik, Houston Texans

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

WR Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins

QB Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

WR CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys

RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

QB Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

CB DaRon Bland, Dallas Cowboys

DE Maxx Crosby, Las Vegas Raiders

DE Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns

LB Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys

LB T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR

QB Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns

S Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills

QB Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

QB Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams

QB Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins

OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

TE Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions

WR Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams

RB Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons

QB C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans

DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

LB Will Anderson, Houston Texans

DT Jalen Carter, Philadelphia Eagles

CB Joey Porter Jr., Pittsburgh Steelers

DT Kobie Turner, Los Angeles Rams

CB Devon Witherspoon, Seattle Seahawks

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