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Bill BarnwellOct 2, 2025, 08:15 PM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Bill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football on and off the field<\/a> like no one else on the planet, writing about in-season X’s and O’s, offseason transactions and so much more.<\/p>\n He is the host of the Bill Barnwell Show podcast<\/a>, with episodes released weekly. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland.<\/p>\n We’re four weeks into the 2025 NFL season<\/a>, which can mean only one thing: It’s time for my quarter-season NFL awards. (Well, technically my 23.5%-season awards in the 17-game era.)<\/p>\n We’re still trying to figure out whether most of the league’s teams are actually any good, but with most starters having played 150 snaps of football or more, we can start making preliminary insights into who’s playing at a really high level in 2025. These are my picks for who deserves to win awards after four weeks, as opposed to my predictions of who will actually win the awards at the end of the season. I’m paying attention to what the voters typically prefer, but this is based solely on what I’ve found by watching tape and looking closely at the numbers after four games. If there’s something unique about how I’m considering the candidates for a particular award, I’ll mention that in the introduction for that award.<\/p>\n Subscribe: ‘The Bill Barnwell Show’<\/a><\/p>\n This should be familiar to you if you’ve been a longtime reader, but there’s something new for everyone: the Protector of the Year award, which will go to the best offensive lineman in the NFL. I’ll hit that, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year on both sides of the ball, Player of the Year awards for defense and offense, and finally my pick for MVP.<\/p>\n Jump to an award: This has been a curious start to the season for the league’s defensive rookies. None has more than one sack. That limits the interest I might have in nominating pass rushers, who are usually the favorites to win this award. Some of our pressure metrics hint toward more productive days ahead for players including Browns defensive tackle Mason Graham<\/a> (who ranks sixth in the NFL in pass rush win rate on the interior) and Giants edge rusher Abdul Carter<\/a> (who had a massive day in the Week 4 win over the Chargers<\/a>). But I’m not sure any pass rusher has the body of work to rank in the top three for this award.<\/p>\n That would push things to the secondary, where the obvious favorite before the season would have been two-way uber-prospect Travis Hunter<\/a>. Instead, Hunter is off to a muted start as a pro, racking up 118 receiving yards through four games with the Jaguars while playing less than 40% of the snaps at cornerback. Hunter has not made much of an impact as Tetairoa McMillan<\/a> and Nico Collins<\/a> have run slants in front of him for first downs.<\/p>\n We’re left with candidates who might not have been obvious options before the season. Cornerback Will Johnson<\/a> was excellent for the Cardinals to open the year, but he has missed the past two games with a groin injury. Slot corners such as Jacob Parrish<\/a> of the Buccaneers and Billy Bowman Jr<\/a>. of the Falcons have flashed. I’ll start in the secondary, where I’ve been very impressed with one rookie on a team that has more young talent on defense than anybody else.<\/p>\n As the Eagles built their defense and moved on from eight of their 17 most-used defenders for cap reasons this offseason, there were obvious places where they were going to need to take a leap of faith. Guys such as Jalen Carter<\/a>, Quinyon Mitchell<\/a> and Cooper DeJean<\/a> had already established themselves as stars, but the Eagles had questions at safety, where C.J. Gardner-Johnson<\/a> was traded<\/a>. Sydney Brown<\/a> and Marcus Epps<\/a> were on the roster, but Mukuba — Philly’s second-round pick — quickly claimed a job for himself.<\/p>\n There’s a lot to like about what we’ve seen from him, especially in a Vic Fangio defense that relies on its safeties to disguise their intentions and mask their coverage concepts pre- and even post-snap. Though he was hit-sticked by Patrick Mahomes<\/a>, Mukuba’s highlights in the win over the Chiefs<\/a> were a great example of what he can do. He flew into the backfield from deep and helped make a tackle for loss on Isiah Pacheco<\/a>, came off the slot for a pressure and half-sack of Mahomes, went over the top of a pick play and still managed to tackle Hollywood Brown<\/a> for no gain on a third-and-1 crosser, and caught a deflection off Travis Kelce<\/a>‘s hands for an interception and 41-yard return.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n Mukuba is making plays all over the field and has instantly looked as if he belongs in one of the league’s best defenses. Jihaad Campbell<\/a> has also been a quick study at linebacker, though the first-rounder did allow a 72-yard touchdown to Bucky Irving<\/a> up the sidelines on a scramble drill in Week 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n After paying Brock Purdy<\/a> and shedding expensive players on both sides of the ball this offseason, the 49ers needed their rookies to contribute under new defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. They have. First-rounder Mykel Williams<\/a> has been physically imposing, especially against the run, and has made multiple plays in the backfield. Marques Sigle<\/a> won a starting safety job in camp. Alfred Collins<\/a> and CJ West<\/a> have been helpful in the defensive tackle rotation.<\/p>\n The best of the bunch, though, has been San Francisco’s slot corner. At 5-foot-9 and 181 pounds, Stout is not going to be imposing his will on NFL receivers, but he has done a great job of battling in coverage and making plays. Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, Stout has allowed an 80.3 passer rating in coverage<\/a>. In Week 2<\/a>, he picked up a sack going through Alvin Kamara<\/a> and wrangling Spencer Rattler<\/a> to the ground against the Saints. In Week 3<\/a>, Stout’s pass breakup on third down prevented the Cardinals from running out the clock, opening up the opportunity for the 49ers to get the ball back in a game they eventually won. And in Week 4<\/a>, Stout appeared to come up with an interception of Trevor Lawrence<\/a> in the third quarter, only for the pick to be called back on what Richard Sherman<\/a> described as a “BS” call<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stout is playing really well, and he’s quickly becoming a favorite for the 49ers.<\/p>\n The Browns are fifth in the league in EPA per play through four games. And although the defense has been able to lead them to only one victory, shutting down a Packers offense that averaged more than 31 points per game in its three other games might be the single most impressive defensive performance of the season so far.<\/p>\n Myles Garrett<\/a> is going to be featured elsewhere in this column, and there have been impressive performances from guys including Maliek Collins<\/a> and Isaiah McGuire<\/a> up front. But Schwesinger has been close to a revelation. The Browns lost Jordan Hicks to retirement<\/a> and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah<\/a> to a career-threatening neck injury<\/a>, so Schwesinger — a second-round pick — was a Week 1 starter and served as the “green dot” defender relaying calls from the coaching staff.<\/p>\n All of that wouldn’t matter if Schwesinger couldn’t make an impact, but he has been excellent in his first month. He has made more than 12% of Cleveland’s tackles, an above-average rate, while whiffing on just 3.1% of his attempts, one of the best rates<\/a> in the league for a linebacker who has been on the field for virtually every snap. Schwesinger tracked down Jordan Love<\/a> for a big sack in the win over the Packers<\/a>, has a couple of tackles for loss and has been a rangy defender against the run.<\/p>\n 0:52<\/p>\n Is the Browns’ defense a valuable fantasy pickup in Week 5?<\/p>\n Tristan H. Cockcroft explains why he has the Browns’ D\/ST ranked top five headed into Week 5 vs. the Vikings.<\/p>\n The running backs of that vaunted class of 2025 are coming on. Led by big days from the Chargers’ Omarion Hampton<\/a> and the Raiders’ Ashton Jeanty<\/a>, rookie halfbacks combined for 737 rushing yards on the ground in Week 4. Rookies often take over backfields by the end of the season, but it’s rare to see this sort of volume in September. Those 737 rush yards were the most produced by rookies in any week of September football since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. Week 3 of this season, when rookies amassed 525 rush yards, is sixth.<\/p>\n None of those backs has been consistently productive enough to make our top three, though. Jeanty was struggling before Sunday, and Hampton assumed a larger role only after Najee Harris<\/a>‘ Achilles injury<\/a> (and has had a frustrating habit of going out of bounds at the wrong time late in games). Quinshon Judkins<\/a> (Browns) and Cam Skattebo<\/a> (Giants) have taken over their backfields, and guys such as Woody Marks<\/a> (Texans) and TreVeyon Henderson<\/a> (Patriots) might be on the way. By the end of the season, I would expect this to be a competition with plenty of options at running back.<\/p>\n Right now, though, three wide receivers are ahead of them in the discussion. Another receiver comes up just short: I’ve been impressed with Tetairoa McMillan<\/a>, who has hit several big plays for the Panthers and Bryce Young<\/a>, but McMillan has been slightly less efficient than his competition at the position across the board. He dropped what could have been a touchdown pass<\/a> on a double jailbreak screen against the Falcons<\/a>, one of the more fun designs I’ve seen from an offense this season. As with those running backs, nobody will be shocked if McMillan is in contention for the Offensive Rookie of the Year award down the stretch.<\/p>\n At the moment, though, an unexpected face is in the mix over him.<\/p>\n We’ll get to Protector of the Year candidates in a moment, and there’s a case that Zabel has been one of the best offensive linemen regardless of experience this season, full stop. NFL Next Gen Stats uses an automated system to track quarterback pressures, and through four games, Zabel might have the cleanest r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of anybody in the league. He has allowed zero sacks and just one pressure; his 0.9% pressure rate is the best of any offensive lineman, rookie or otherwise.<\/p>\n Pressures can be in the eye of the beholder, and I believe Zabel was responsible for a quick pressure against the Steelers<\/a> (albeit one that turned into a big gain when Sam Darnold<\/a> escaped a free rusher), but the general idea still stands. Zabel is inhibiting pressures at one of the league’s best rates, which is wildly impressive for a rookie guard. Zabel is not quite at a league-average one-on-one rate per Next Gen Stats, which obviously helps make his life easier, but there’s plenty to like about what he has done as a pass protector.<\/p>\n He has also been fun to watch in the run game, where his athletic traits are played up. Zabel got to the third level to block Juan Thornhill<\/a> to finish off a 19-yard Kenneth Walker III<\/a> run against the Steelers. The rookie is not the sort of physical force the Seahawks are going to run behind over and over again, but in a zone-heavy scheme that asks its linemen to be on the move, Zabel is a great fit. He joins Armand Membou<\/a> of the Jets as the best rookie O-linemen through four weeks.<\/p>\n What a fun start to the season this has been for Egbuka, who was seen as a luxury when the Bucs took him in the first round. By Week 4, injuries and an established level of play had already made him Tampa Bay’s top receiver in a critical matchup against Philadelphia<\/a>. Egbuka didn’t have his best game, turning 10 targets into 101 yards, but one of those targets was a 77-yard touchdown on a scramble drill that helped fuel Tampa Bay’s comeback to make the game competitive in the second half.<\/p>\n 1:25<\/p>\n Is Emeka Egbuka a trade candidate in fantasy?<\/p>\n Field Yates is happy to see Emeka Egbuka put up big points in fantasy but is unsure how long that will last.<\/p>\n Egbuka leads rookies in receiving yards (282) and receiving touchdowns (4), and he is second in yards per route run (2.2). He has come up with big plays in meaningful moments, including a deep post to win the game against the Falcons<\/a> in Week 1. And with the Bucs trailing in the final two minutes against the Jets<\/a> in Week 2, Egbuka ran away from “quarters” coverage for a 28-yard reception, then appeared to make a spectacular second-effort catch to get the Bucs into field goal range only for the play to be ruled incomplete (inexplicably without an official review).<\/p>\n The book on Egbuka in April was that he was going to enter the NFL as a pro-ready wideout without the sort of elite traits most teams want from their top receivers. He has already exceeded those expectations after four games.<\/p>\n As a pass catcher, Warren has been even more efficient than Egbuka and McMillan. He has 263 receiving yards across just 104 routes, good for an average of 2.5 yards per route run. McMillan has 15 more receiving yards than Warren, but he has taken 39 more routes to get there. Warren is 10th among all receivers in yards per route run and second among tight ends behind only Tucker Kraft<\/a> of the Packers.<\/p>\n And of course, Warren has been even more intriguing as a chess piece for coach Shane Steichen. The Colts have used Warren as a fullback, serving both as a lead blocker and ball carrier on a pair of short-yardage plays — including a touchdown on a fourth-and-1 carry against the Rams<\/a> on Sunday. On the prior play, the Colts went to Warren out of the Wildcat and ran power with him as the de facto quarterback as if he were Cam Newton.<\/p>\n Those concepts haven’t always been successful — Warren was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 carry out of the backfield against the Broncos<\/a> — but how many teams have a player they are comfortable running on power and throwing to as the shallow crosser on mesh on fourth down in the same game? Warren is a special talent, and he has been an essential part of the Colts’ offense as the team has gotten off to a 3-1 start.<\/p>\n The NFL’s newest award<\/a> goes to the best offensive lineman in football. Through four games, it’s going to be difficult for any lineman to separate from the pack. It’s pretty clear which linemen are at the bottom of the pack<\/a>, but there are still plenty who haven’t allowed a sack, have made a few solid key blocks in the run game and could be considered for this award. The cream of the crop will separate as the season goes along.<\/p>\n All of ESPN. All in one place.<\/p>\n Watch your favorite events in the newly enhanced ESPN App. Learn more about what plan is right for you. Sign Up Now<\/a><\/p>\n We’ll see how the voters handle this award over the winter, but my instinct is to lean toward offensive tackles, who are typically seeing the opposing team’s top pass rushers and have to handle them one-on-one. In the run game, I’m a little biased toward linemen who can get out and create havoc as reliable pullers, which opens up more possibilities for what teams can do with their run and play-action games. And at this point of the year, missing even one game means you’ve sat out a quarter of the season, so I can’t include guys like Joe Alt<\/a> (Chargers) or Lane Johnson<\/a> (Eagles), who have left games with injuries without returning.<\/p>\n Evaluating Bolles as a pass blocker can be difficult. The Broncos have a very good offensive line from one through five, so there’s no weak spot the line has to cover up. Sean Payton’s scheme often asks Bo Nix<\/a> to get the ball out quickly in obvious passing situations like third-and-long with screens and throws short of the sticks, so Denver’s linemen aren’t stuck holding up for a long time in the toughest pass-protection spots. At the same time, Nix’s inconsistent movement at the end of his drop can make him a more difficult player to protect than other quarterbacks.<\/p>\n Doing my best to account for all that, I think Bolles is playing at a really high level. He has allowed a pressure rate of just 4.6%, the lowest among NFL left tackles, with no quick pressures or quick sacks of Nix. Quinn Meinerz<\/a> deservedly gets credit as the most fearsome run blocker on the Broncos’ line, but Bolles can hold his own; he bowled over Joseph Ossai<\/a> on a 16-yard J.K. Dobbins<\/a> run during Monday’s blowout win over the Bengals<\/a>.<\/p>\n As great as guys like Josh Allen<\/a>, Lamar Jackson<\/a> and Patrick Mahomes are as improvisers, it can be a nightmare to block for them. Offensive linemen are blocking with the quarterback’s drop in mind, expecting him to be in a particular spot before he gets rid of the football. Watch the league’s most exciting quarterbacks, and you know that’s more of a suggestion than anything else. And given what they create outside structure, teams are happily going to take the tradeoff and ask their linemen to simply do more.<\/p>\n Dawkins makes it look easy. While Next Gen Stats credits him with two sacks allowed on the year, both of those sacks were extended plays where Dawkins initially won at the line. He has been credited with zero quick sacks and zero quick pressures allowed. His 4.9% pressure allowed rate is the second-lowest figure in the league among left tackles. And he has been in one-on-one blocks 88% of the time, the third-highest rate in the league.<\/p>\n Unlike the guys blocking for Nix and Allen, Sewell knows what to expect with Jared Goff<\/a>, who scrambles only out of necessity. That makes Sewell’s life easier, but he’s also playing on a Lions O-line with two new starters at guard — which got overwhelmed in the middle against the Packers<\/a> in the opener before massively improving over the subsequent three games.<\/p>\n Sewell is the complete package. He’s a mauler with rare mobility in the run game; watch David Montgomery<\/a>‘s 72-yard run against the Ravens<\/a>, and you’ll see the star tackle both engulf a fellow All-Pro in Roquan Smith<\/a> and sustain his block for several yards, allowing Montgomery a huge lane to cut back and then beat the safety to go to the races. And while running one of the highest one-on-one block rates among right tackles in the league, Sewell is fourth in pressure rate allowed (5.4%), giving up no sacks and just one quick pressure through four games.<\/p>\n Coach of the Year often becomes the award honoring the guy whose team most exceeds the preseason expectations, which is why we end up with situations where Brian Daboll and Matt Nagy have as many Coach of the Year awards as Andy Reid — and more than Mike Tomlin. There’s real merit in taking a bad team to the postseason, but Daboll’s Giants were built on their performance in one-score games, which didn’t stick. Nagy’s Bears thrived because of their dominant defense, which was overseen by Vic Fangio; once the vaunted defensive coordinator left, Nagy suddenly wasn’t the best coach in football.<\/p>\n I try to lean toward sustainability and coaches who are doing great work on their preferred side of the ball as part of this award. Take Liam Coen, who will be a candidate for this after going 3-1. Coen has done great work rebuilding Jacksonville’s run game, but the Jags have been wildly inconsistent on offense, ranking 20th in EPA per play. They’ve struggled to line up, leading to unnecessary timeouts and delay of game calls, and lead the league with 23 offensive penalties. The driving force for the Jags has been their defense, which should be credited more to Anthony Campanile than the coach.<\/p>\n Likewise, can we feel great about the two undefeated coaches? Sean McDermott’s Bills have played an easy schedule after the Ravens game and been driven by the Josh Allen-led offense. Their defense, which is McDermott’s focus, ranks 18th in EPA per play. And Nick Sirianni’s Eagles keep winning, which has to mean something, but it feels like even Eagles fans don’t want to credit their coach for what has been a remarkable run of sustained success.<\/p>\n McVay has already established himself as one of the finest coaches in the league and has somehow insulated himself from winning the Coach of the Year award as a result. But he’s doing great things in Los Angeles. The Rams are a couple of plays away from starting 4-0, and it’s driven by the offense, which continues to rank in the top 10. McVay is always evolving, and the Rams have leaned more into 12 personnel groupings with success on the offensive side of the ball. Alongside Kevin O’Connell with Justin Jefferson<\/a> in Minnesota, nobody gets more out of their star receiver than the Rams do with Puka Nacua<\/a>, whose ability and threat as a blocker is the focal point for the Rams’ run game and their resulting play-action attack.<\/p>\n If there’s any flaw, it’s that McVay’s game management can be a little too conservative at times<\/a>, especially with the strength of the Rams’ offense. And yet, the Rams have scored three touchdowns on their three fourth-down conversions this season, including critical scores in their wins over the Texans<\/a> and Colts<\/a>. And hey, speaking of Indianapolis …<\/p>\n I don’t solely want to pick coaches who are overseeing surprising teams, but I have to give credit to Steichen. He has always been a compelling play designer in building his offenses around Jalen Hurts<\/a> and Anthony Richardson Sr<\/a>., but he has done a great job of making life easier for Daniel Jones<\/a> and creating possibilities for his playmakers to run away from defenders for big gains. The Colts rank third in the NFL in EPA per play on offense, even after playing the Broncos<\/a> and Rams<\/a>, who profile as two of the NFL’s more imposing defenses.<\/p>\n Breaking News from Adam Schefter<\/p>\n Download the ESPN app and enable Adam Schefter’s news alerts<\/a> to receive push notifications for the latest updates first. Opt in by tapping the alerts bell in the top right corner. For more information, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even with Jones mostly removed from the quarterback run game relative to where Richardson was at his most active, Steichen has built a compelling, creative attack that takes advantage of the other team’s weaknesses. His game plan against the Broncos was excellent. Facing a team that plays a lot of man coverage and has one of the most athletic front sevens in football, Steichen built in plenty of man-beaters on mesh and pick concepts and hit the Broncos for the biggest play of the day on a wham concept, exploiting Denver’s aggressiveness up front.<\/p>\n I’m not sure Indy will be a top-three offense all season, but Steichen is doing a great job of getting the most out of his talent and making the right decisions on fourth downs.<\/p>\n Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Lions wouldn’t fold over one ugly loss, but since that blowout defeat<\/a> at the hands of the Packers, Campbell’s team has bounced right back to its 2024 form. Over the past three weeks, the Lions led the NFL in EPA per play on offense and are third in EPA per play on defense, all while outscoring their opponents by 21 points per game. The Lions blew out the Bears<\/a>, manhandled the Ravens<\/a> in Baltimore and then scored 34 points in a win over the Browns<\/a>, aided by a punt return TD and some short fields on defense.<\/p>\n Campbell hasn’t had to make many tough decisions on fourth down this season, but the Lions have scored 28 points on drives that included converting at least one fourth down, the second most in the league. Campbell’s decision to go for it late against the Ravens was rewarded first by a completion to Amon-Ra St. Brown<\/a> and then by a touchdown run to seal up the victory. And while the Lions will still miss coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn as the year goes along, Campbell’s team looks like it’ll be just fine as long as the head honcho is still in the building.<\/p>\n This is always the toughest award to land on. Though there are a few transcendent quarterbacks and receivers who routinely separate from the pack on offense, the league is just blessed with too many defenders who can be utterly unstoppable on their best days. There are 10 pass rushers every year who might have a viable case for the award, let alone when we get peak seasons from a cornerback like Pat Surtain II<\/a>, who took home<\/a> the honors for the 2024 season.<\/p>\n This becomes an incredibly difficult exercise. I wasn’t able to find spots for any defensive backs or linebackers. Guys like Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis<\/a> and Vikings cornerback Isaiah Rodgers<\/a>, who swung games with their individual efforts, aren’t able to make it into the top three. The Jags have a number of potential candidates, notably edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen<\/a> and slot cornerback Jourdan Lewis<\/a>, but I wasn’t able to squeeze them in, either. The Rams could send a devastating edge rush duo to the Pro Bowl in Jared Verse<\/a> and Byron Young<\/a>. And Comeback Player of the Year candidate Joey Bosa<\/a>, who leads the league by three percentage points in pass rush win rate on the edge while playing 72% of the snaps for the Bills, comes up just short, too.<\/p>\n Your League, Your Rules<\/p>\n Create a league and customize league size, scoring and rules to play in the league you want to play in.<\/p>\n Create a league today!<\/a><\/p>\n What I leaned on at the end of the day is some combination of the numbers and my perspective from film of the players who have been the most unblockable up front this season. And that starts with a guy who has been dominant for one of the league’s worst teams — even beyond one wild play you might have seen in Week 4.<\/p>\n No, this isn’t about Simmons’s insta-sack<\/a> of C.J. Stroud<\/a> that went viral in Week 4<\/a>. That’s a product of the Texans changing their play at the line and about half of their offensive line not getting the message. Simmons gets off the line quickly, of course, but a lot of guys are going to look good when the two players across from him turn in opposite directions and block members of their own team.<\/p>\n Leaving that play aside, though, it has been cruel to see a player as talented and influential as Simmons wasted on one of the league’s worst teams. He leads the league in virtually every metric for interior defensive linemen. Pass rush win rate? First at 17.6%. Pressures? His 14 are tied with Seattle’s Byron Murphy II<\/a> for the most of any tackle. Quick pressures, which are a better measure of how quickly a player wins at the line? Simmons has eight, three more than any other defensive tackle.<\/p>\n He has done all this while being double-teamed more than 46% of the time, above the league average of 41%. And Simmons helped create an interception by spinning through one of those double-teams and pressuring Bo Nix into a pick, one of the two turnovers he caused in what ended up being a close Week 1 game against the Broncos<\/a>.<\/p>\n Simmons is also a stout run defender. The Titans haven’t been great against the run this season, in part because fellow starting defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat<\/a> hasn’t played since Week 1, but Simmons has made plays. In Week 4, Simmons picked up a tackle for loss on a snap where he shot into the backfield and stopped Woody Marks<\/a> in the backfield on third-and-1, leading to the Texans missing a field goal on the next snap.<\/p>\n I know there will be grumbling from fans of teams whose defenses have been far more successful, but Simmons can’t be held responsible for what’s around him in Tennessee. He has been excellent so far.<\/p>\n All of the great edge rushers face plenty of double-teams and chips. Offenses slide their protections in those guys’ directions to ensure that they’re not stuck with a tackle one-on-one on the backside of their pass plays. Every offensive playcaller comes into the week with stopping Garrett as the first thing on the game plan. You can read him on a run concept or two, but if you don’t have a plan to stop Garrett, he’s going to ruin your day.<\/p>\n The problem is that those plans just don’t matter. Garrett is just so consistently impossible to block. There’s not a better power\/speed combination in the game. There are edge rushers who have a great array of moves, guys who have the raw strength to just bull-rush through an offensive tackle and linemen who can just teleport around the edge and beat protections without ever being touched. Being good at one of those three is enough to sustain a career. Garrett is among the elite in each.<\/p>\n Garrett is routinely making good offensive linemen look foolish. He drove Cincinnati’s Orlando Brown Jr<\/a>. into Joe Burrow<\/a> like the 340-pound lineman didn’t have a choice in Week 1<\/a>, then swam past Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley<\/a> like the star tackle wasn’t there the following week<\/a>. He did such a number on the Packers<\/a> that their linemen were screaming “Jordan [Love], run!”<\/a> like they were in a horror movie. Garrett leads all edge rushers in pass rush win rate (37.5%) and is second in the NFL in quick quarterback pressures (11) despite playing on a defense that has faced the second-fewest snaps.<\/p>\n I’m just not sure we can put anybody ahead of Bonitto, who rates out as the best pass rusher in the NFL this season by about every metric I can put together beyond sacks — where his 4.5 are a half-sack behind Brian Burns<\/a> of the Giants. Bonitto has done that on 86 pass-rush opportunities, while Garrett is at 98 and Burns has had 127.<\/p>\n Leave sacks aside. Pressures? Bonitto’s 27 are the most in football, and his 31.4% pressure rate is about double that of superstars like Hines-Allen and Aidan Hutchinson<\/a>. Quick pressures? Bonitto’s 15 are four more than anybody else in the league, and his 17.4% quick pressure rate is almost laughably outlandish. The second-best quick pressure rate for guys with 80 pass-rush opportunities or more is Garrett at 11.2%, and he’s closer to 23rd than he is to Bonitto in first.<\/p>\n Bonitto doesn’t get double-teamed as often as the Garretts and Hutchinsons of the world, both because he doesn’t have the reputation as a superstar and because the Broncos have a couple of very good rushers elsewhere on their D-line in Zach Allen<\/a> and Jonathon Cooper<\/a>. He’s not the same caliber of run defender as Garrett or Simmons, but Bonitto is fast enough for the Broncos to have used him as a spy when they’ve played Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in the past.<\/p>\n Even acknowledging those realities, though, Bonitto has simply been head and shoulders above everyone else in getting to the quarterback and creating problems this season. There might not be anybody better right now at getting off the line and around opposing tackles; there’s usually at least one snap per game where it looks like Bonitto was in the offensive huddle and knew the snap count and the protection scheme. He made major strides between 2022 and 2023 and then again between 2023 and 2024. It looks like he has leveled up into one of the league’s best speed rushers in 2025.<\/p>\n Here’s where I have to do my annual spiel. In a league where the Most Valuable Player award is almost always a quarterback and hasn’t been a defensive player since 1986, the existence of an Offensive Player of the Year award seems unnecessary. The reality where different players win Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year — as happened with Josh Allen<\/a> and Saquon Barkley<\/a> last season — is even more ridiculous. How can Allen be the Most Valuable Player at any position and simultaneously not be the Offensive Player of the Year?<\/p>\n Since it’s my column, I’m making a very deliberate distinction between the awards. Quarterbacks aren’t eligible for Offensive Player of the Year here. I’m happy to consider non-quarterbacks for the MVP award if they’re playing well enough, but this honor is strictly for running backs, receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen.<\/p>\n Through four weeks, there’s a very clear top tier. Two wide receivers have dramatically separated from the rest of the bunch. Beyond them, there were only a few running backs who earned consideration. James Cook<\/a> has been a great runner for the Bills, but he hasn’t done much as a receiver after a 51-yard catch in the opener<\/a>. Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson<\/a> leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage and has a pair of 100-yard games as a receiver, fueled by the big plays that had been inexplicably missing from his professional profile so far. But another back has been slightly more efficient and consistent so far this season.<\/p>\n I wasn’t sure we were ever going to get the Taylor from 2021 on the field again after a series of injury-hit seasons, but over the past four games of the 2024 campaign and the first four games of 2025, Taylor has been in rare form. His rushing stats from that stretch, prorated out for 17 games, amount to 412 carries for 2,212 yards and 19 rushing touchdowns. His receiving numbers aren’t as impressive, a product of playing with limited quarterbacks down the stretch in 2024, but Taylor has caught 13 of 14 passes for 113 yards so far this season, including a huge game as a receiver against the Broncos<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Colts do a great job of scheming up their run game, but Taylor is an absolute difference-maker. I mentioned Steichen dialing up that Wham concept for a big play against Denver, but Indy didn’t really do a great job of getting its blocks set up in time; Taylor was the one who had to make a man miss in the backfield and then run away from another tackle before going down 68 yards later. He’s so good at squeezing into tight spaces at the line of scrimmage, accelerating out and then running through tackles at the second level and beyond.<\/p>\n He has had at least one highlight-reel run per week, including what should have been a 53-yard touchdown with 2:25 to go in the fourth quarter against the Rams<\/a> last week, only for Adonai Mitchell<\/a> to be flagged for holding before Taylor was even nearby. Taylor has been this season’s equivalent of the 2024 Saquon Barkley, a walking explosive play on any given snap.<\/p>\n 0:51<\/p>\n Jonathan Taylor impressed with Daniel Jones as Colts QB<\/p>\n Jonathan Taylor joins “The Rich Eisen Show” to discuss what it is like having Daniel Jones as his quarterback.<\/p>\n Smith-Njigba leads the NFL in yards per route run, averaging a robust 4.3 so far this season. The guy just ahead of him for this award is hundredths of a yard behind him and also at 4.3 YPRR. Nobody else in the NFL is above 2.7. There’s just a huge chasm between the top two receivers in the league through four games and everybody else. I’ve got a ton of respect for what Amon-Ra St. Brown has done in Detroit, and Justin Jefferson is always going to be a problem in Minnesota, but Smith-Njigba is more than 75 receiving yards ahead of either player while running about 30 fewer routes.<\/p>\n Smith-Njigba has caught more than 76% of the passes thrown in his direction this season, a particularly impressive figure when you consider that his average target has come more than 12 yards downfield. He has become a lethal playmaker for Sam Darnold<\/a> on scramble drills, finding space in the middle of the field or running away from defenders to create big plays.<\/p>\n For a guy who came into the league with some scouting reports treating him like a potential slot receiver who wasn’t going to win vertically, Smith-Njigba is straight up running past cornerbacks on deep posts (ask Jalen Ramsey<\/a> or Kool-Aid McKinstry<\/a>) and go routes for huge gains. He averaged 6.8 yards per target as a rookie; that has nearly doubled to 11.8 yards per target so far in 2025. Smith-Njigba has a league-leading seven completions on throws traveling 20 yards or more in the air this season, too.<\/p>\n Even in situations where opposing teams know the Seahawks want a big play, they haven’t really been able to do anything about Seattle’s star wideout; look at Smith-Njigba running up the sideline past Renardo Green<\/a> for a 40-yard completion to set up what should have been a game-winning field goal against the 49ers<\/a> in the opener. Smith-Njigba also fumbled twice in that defeat, the only blemish on an otherwise impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 to start 2025.<\/p>\n Nacua is just behind Smith-Njigba in yards per route run, but the Rams star makes up for it in volume. Nacua is commanding targets on 42.4% of his routes so far this season, which is one of the highest rates we’ve ever seen for a receiver through four games. He leads the league in just about every raw metric, including targets (50), receptions (42) and receiving yards (503). About the only thing he hasn’t done is get into the end zone often, although his one receiving score (a fourth-and-2 catch to tie up the score late against the Colts<\/a>) is buttressed by a 45-yard rushing touchdown on a fourth-and-1 jet sweep against the Titans<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you did some division in your head when you saw those numbers, you weren’t wrong; Nacua has caught 84% of the passes thrown in his direction this season. By the Next Gen Stats receiving model, he has already caught 7.3 more passes than an average receiver would be expected to bring in with the same targets. The top of the leaderboard for that metric last season was St. Brown, who got to 16.3 receptions over expectation in 17 games. Nacua is nearly halfway there in four.<\/p>\n Look ahead to the 2026 NFL draft \u2022 Early mock drafts: Yates<\/a> | Miller<\/a> | Reid<\/a> And of course, it’s difficult to overstate just how essential Nacua is to the entire Rams enterprise. He’s an excellent run blocker, with the Rams routinely using him to dig out bigger players on duo and even taking on edge defenders when they go to outside zone runs. With the play-action game then triggers off that threat, Nacua will motion like he’s about to take on a linebacker, only to run a route through offensive linemen and away from defenders. One of his eight incompletions this season was a snap against the Eagles<\/a> where Nacua just casually split the right tackle and tight end after coming in motion, ran a sail route back across the field and might have set up a potential touchdown just before halftime, only for Matthew Stafford<\/a> to miss the throw.<\/p>\n Nacua hasn’t been quite as explosive as Taylor or Smith-Njigba, but if you need a first down, there’s nobody else in the league you would rather have lining up on your side of the ball right now.<\/p>\n And here’s the big one. Nacua comes close, but I think we can put three quarterbacks ahead of the league’s best wide receiver in the MVP rankings through four games. And to be honest, the toughest decision among the top three was deciding who was third in the rankings as opposed to who was first. There’s a clear No. 1 and a clear No. 2 for me, but who has been the third best quarterback in the league? I had to eliminate some viable candidates.<\/p>\n The Chargers’ Justin Herbert<\/a> got off to a hot start. But while he might be able to put some blame on losing both of his starting tackles, he ranks 17th in EPA per dropback so far this season and has turned the ball over four times in his past three games.<\/p>\n I can see a case for Jalen Hurts<\/a>, who continues to lead the Eagles to victories. He hasn’t thrown an interception, picks up valuable first downs and touchdowns on the tush push, and played a key role in Philadelphia’s comeback win over the Rams<\/a>. He has also fumbled three times in three weeks, takes sacks at a rate well above league average and is averaging just 6 yards per pass attempt (25th among quarterbacks). Hurts’ formerly significant role in the designed run game has been limited, sneaks aside, to six carries over the first four games.<\/p>\n Jordan Love<\/a> got off to a good start with the Packers, and he’s averaging 8.3 yards per attempt, which is good for fourth in the league. He has turned the ball over only twice, but they’ve been costly mistakes: An interception set the Browns up for a score-tying touchdown in Week 3<\/a>, while a strip sack on a play where Love held the football before attempting to check down handed the Cowboys a short field for a touchdown in Week 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n And then there’s Baker Mayfield<\/a>, who led three consecutive last-minute victories to start the season before nearly leading the Buccaneers back for a fourth against the Eagles<\/a>. Mayfield has been great in those moments, and his scrambling has both bailed the Bucs out in key spots and earned him second place in the quarterback rushing EPA ranks. But one of the reasons the Buccaneers have been in position to require those comebacks has been an inconsistent offense early in their contests. Mayfield is 22nd in QBR in the first half of games and 11th across the final two quarters.<\/p>\n Catch up on NFL Week 4 \u2022 Takeaways, questions from each game \u00bb<\/a> In the end, third place came down to the two quarterbacks who went up against each other last week<\/a>. Fourth place went to Patrick Mahomes<\/a>, who is quietly third in the NFL in QBR after what had been a slow start for his offense. The Chiefs have had their struggles, but outside of Mahomes missing a deep ball or two to Tyquan Thornton<\/a>, it hasn’t been because of their star quarterback, who has taken on more work as a runner out of sheer necessity this season. Mahomes is seventh in EPA per dropback by the Next Gen Stats model, just behind our third-place finisher …<\/p>\n I’ve mentioned my reticence to include players who were sidelined during games because of injuries, and I know Jackson missed the fourth quarter of last week’s loss to the Chiefs<\/a> with a hamstring injury<\/a>. At the same time, he has played 91% of Baltimore’s snaps this season, which would amount to missing 1\u00bd games out of a full 17-game slate. I could see a quarterback who was playing at an MVP level still garner serious consideration if they missed that much action over a full campaign.<\/p>\n And if we’re just talking about what Jackson has done on a snap-by-snap basis, it’s hard to say anybody else has been more productive. He leads the NFL in passing touchdowns (10), yards per attempt (9.1), passer rating (130.5) and adjusted net yards per attempt (8.4). He has thrown one interception and had one fumble across two games while playing against arguably the toughest schedule in the NFL so far this season. And as usual, Jackson is adding meaningful value with his legs, though his 5.3 attempts and 41.5 rush yards per game would be career-low averages.<\/p>\n The only problem? Sacks. One year after taking sacks on a career-best 4.6% of his dropbacks, Jackson has nearly tripled that mark, going down a career-worst 13.6% of the time. Some of that is on an offensive line that hasn’t gotten off to a great start this season, but quarterbacks also bear some responsibility for their sacks. Jackson’s sacks have come after an average of 5.5 seconds, the second-longest rate in the league. The takedowns are the biggest reason why Jackson dropped to fifth in the NFL in QBR before suffering his hamstring injury.<\/p>\n If you saw this one coming, you’re ahead of the game. Jones has been put in position to succeed in Indy. His defense has allowed him to play from ahead or in close games, his running back has been playing at an extremely high level, and Jones’ receivers have generated 120 yards after the catch over expectation, the second most of any offense in the league behind the Steelers (per Next Gen Stats). Next Gen Stats credits Indy’s pass catchers with just one drop on the season, a figure that presumably doesn’t include Adonai Mitchell<\/a> dropping the ball just before entering the end zone against the Rams<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n At the same time, Jones has more than held his own. He is third in the NFL in Next Gen Stats’ completion percentage over expectation, trailing only Dak Prescott<\/a> and Jared Goff<\/a>. He’s averaging 8.9 yards per attempt, third behind Jackson and Sam Darnold<\/a>. Jones’ prior revival in 2022 (with the Giants) was built around getting the ball out quickly on short throws to limit his issues with taking sacks and fumbling the football. But this time around, his 8.4 air yards per attempt is the third-longest figure in the league, and his 3.0% sack rate is the fourth-best mark.<\/p>\n Sunday’s game against the Rams was the first time it really felt like Jones was beginning to fall back to earth. He threw his first two interceptions of the season and had his first multi-sack game of the year, losing the ball on a strip sack (though the Colts were able to recover it). Even in a game where he struggled, though, Jones completed nearly 73% of his passes, averaged just under 8 yards per attempt and came one Mitchell meltdown away from throwing two touchdown passes against one of the league’s toughest defensive fronts. If that’s what happens after the clock strikes midnight, Jones and the Colts will be just fine.<\/p>\n 1:47<\/p>\n Eisen: Daniel Jones is doing things we’ve never seen a Colts QB do<\/p>\n Rich Eisen sings the praises of Daniel Jones after his impressive start to the NFL season.<\/p>\n Allen creates value for the Bills in so many ways. There are the obvious ones. Allen leads all quarterbacks in rushing EPA. He’s third in the NFL in yards per dropback. Buffalo’s receivers are running one of the worst drop rates in football while Allen hits them with the fifth-best precise pass rate in the NFL (measuring how reliably QBs deliver their throws in stride around the torso area to their pass catchers). You know Allen is capable of the spectacular, but he has also just become so consistent at executing Joe Brady’s offense play after play and drive after drive.<\/p>\n And then there’s the other, more subtle element to Allen’s game that I repeatedly mention: his ability to avoid the negative plays. He has turned the ball over once in four games, an interception nearly 40 yards downfield on third-and-long last week against the Saints<\/a>. Allen’s sack rate has actually nearly doubled from its absurdly low 2.8% clip a year ago, but it is still better than league average. And 51.7% of Allen’s dropbacks turn into successful plays, the third highest rate in the league.<\/p>\n Allen is essentially an extremely low-risk, extremely high-reward quarterback, and that combination is difficult to beat. I suppose you could make a case that the Bills haven’t played the toughest schedule, which is true, but this feels a little like a “to be the man, you have to beat the man” situation. Allen entered the season as MVP, and so far, he’s setting career highs in completion percentage, yards per attempt and adjusted net yards per attempt — and he led his team to a dramatic comeback victory over the rival Ravens<\/a> in Week 1. Nobody has taken the crown from him yet, and if Allen keeps this up, nobody’s going to come close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill BarnwellOct 2, 2025, 08:15 PM CloseBill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-184806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
DROY<\/a> | OROY<\/a> | Protector of the Year<\/a>
Coach of the Year<\/a> | DPOY<\/a> | OPOY<\/a> | MVP<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757152208_410__end_rule.png\")
Defensive Rookie of the Year<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/phi.png&h=110&w=110.png\")
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<\/p>\nplay<\/p>\n
Offensive Rookie of the Year<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/sea.png&h=110&w=110.png\")
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<\/p>\nProtector of the Year<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/r1531432_1296x729_16-9.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/den.png&h=110&w=110.png\")
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<\/p>\nCoach of the Year<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lar.png&h=110&w=110.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/schefter_adam.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\nDefensive Player of the Year<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755515950_269_ffl-1320x528_03.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ten.png&h=110&w=110.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nWhich awards could Jonathan Taylor, Josh Allen, Emeka Egbuka and Myles Garrett win this season?\u00a0ESPN Illustration
<\/p>\nOffensive Player of the Year<\/p>\n<\/p>\nplay<\/p>\n
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\u2022 Draft notes, risers from CFB games<\/a>
\u2022 Top five by position<\/a> | Top QBs to know<\/a>
\u2022 Race to No. 1<\/a> | 10 sleepers<\/a> | Read more<\/a><\/p>\nMost Valuable Player<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ranking_32_nfl_teams_1296x518.png\")
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\u2022 Graziano’s overreactions to Week 4 \u00bb<\/a>
\u2022 Best plays, moments from Sunday \u00bb<\/a>
\u2022 Full Week 4 scoreboard \u00bb<\/a> | More \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/bal.png&h=110&w=110.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nplay<\/p>\n
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