The Dallas Cowboys were shut out of NFL Honors on Thursday night, but that doesn’t mean the state of Texas isn’t celebrating. In the annual event hosted a few days before the Super Bowl, the NFL crowns their regular-season award winners. This year’s festivities took place down the road from Super Bowl LX in San Francisco, at the Palace of Fine Arts, but it had a distinct Lone Star flavor.
All three of the top individual awards, the MVP, Offensive Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year attended high school in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
League MVP Matt Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams, the 17-year veteran who led the league in passing yards this season, played at Highland Park in Dallas.
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Myles Garrett, a five-time First-Team All-Pro edge rusher of the Cleveland Browns took him his second DPOY award on the night. He played his high school ball at Arlington Martin, just 10 miles down the road from AT&T Stadium. Seattle wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba walked away with the OPOY honors after his sensational season with the Seahawks.
The Rockwall ISD product led the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards and scored 10 TDs on his way to First-Team All-Pro honors.
If one zooms out from the DFW area, the accolades continued to pour in for Texas high school football, as Drew Brees earned his gold jacket with his nomination for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The former Saints and Chargers star played his high school ball at Austin Westlake.
While there were four others inducted into the HoF, Brees is the clear headliner, meaning the four highest-profile honors for players all went to Texas products.
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Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, a Louisiana native, was a finalist for the Comeback Player of the Year award, but that went to 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey is a Cali guy.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: NFL Honors dominated by Texas High School Football, DFW to be specific