Before tonight, only five NFL players have ever won the Most Valuable Player award at least three times in their career. Now, there are six players with that honor as the league named Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers) the MVP of the season. Rodgers beat Buffalo’s Josh Allen (four votes) and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (two votes).
“It’s an honor to win this award for the third time,” Rodgers stated in his video acceptance speech. “2020 was definitely a crazy year filled with lots of change, growth, some amazing memorable moments, 180 straight days of having my nose hairs scraped, playing for very little fans or no [fans] the entire season. I got engaged, and I played some of the best football of my career. ”
Green Bay’s leader joins Brett Favre, Jim Brown, Tom Brady, and Johnny Unitas as three-time winners.
Rodgers led the Packers to a 13-3 season this year. Along the way, he led the league in passing touchdowns (48) while throwing the fewest interceptions (five). In addition, the quarterback had a career-high 84.4 total QBR which is the third-highest mark in a single season since the metric system was instated by ESPN.
Other top awards went to Tennessee’s Derrick Henry and Los Angeles Aaron Donald as the best offensive and defensive players of the year, respectfully.
For Henry, he received over 50% of the eligible votes. With a single-season rushing total with 2,027 yards, Henry produced the league’s fifth-highest mark in the category. The Rams’ running back finished with 17 touchdowns. Furthermore, Henry is the first running back since Todd Gurly in 2017 to win best offensive player. Also, he is the fourth running back to win offensive player of the year since 2010.
The decision for defensive player of the year was a lot closer. Donald beat TJ Watt (Pittsburgh) for the award by seven votes. But, Donald is used to winning the award — this is the third time in four years he has won. Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt are the only other players to win the honor three times.
Donald led the entire league with 54 pressures this season and pass rush win rate as an interior defensive lineman at 24.2%.
Maybe expected for many, Alex Smith was honored as the Comeback Player of the Year. In the six games Smith started for Washington this season, he went 5-1, helping the team to the playoffs.
Complete list of award winners:
| AP AWARDS | WINNER | TEAM |
| AP Most Valuable Player delivered by Pizza Hut | Aaron Rodgers | Green Bay Packers |
| AP Coach of the Year presented by Bose | Kevin Stefanski | Cleveland Browns |
| AP Comeback Player of the Year presented by Visa | Alex Smith | Washington Football Team |
| AP Offensive Player of the Year | Derrick Henry | Tennessee Titans |
| AP Defensive Player of the Year | Aaron Donald | Los Angeles Rams |
| AP Offensive Rookie of the Year presented by Microsoft Surface | Justin Herbert | Los Angeles Chargers |
| AP Defensive Rookie of the Year presented by Microsoft Surface | Chase Young | Washington Football Team |
| AP Assistant Coach of the Year | Brian Daboll | Buffalo Bills |
| NFL AWARDS | WINNER | TEAM |
| Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year presented by Nationwide | Russell Wilson | Seattle Seahawks |
| Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award | Teddy Bridgewater | Carolina Panthers |
| Deacon Jones Award | T.J. Watt | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| Fan of the Year presented by Subway | Brandon Galloway | Tennessee Titans Fan |
| SPONSOR AWARDS | WINNER | TEAM |
| Bridgestone Clutch Performance Play of the Year | ‘Hail Murray’ | Arizona Cardinals |
| FedEx Air & Ground Players of the Year | Air: Aaron Rodgers
Ground: Derrick Henry |
Green Bay Packers
Tennessee Titans |
| Salute to Service Award presented by USAA | Steve Cannon | Atlanta Falcons |
| Bud Light Celly of the Year | Pittsburgh Steelers Receiving Corps Week 11 Birthday Celebration | Pittsburgh Steelers |
| SNICKERS Hungriest Player of the Year | Kyler Murray | Arizona Cardinals |
| DraftKings Daily Fantasy Player of the Year | Josh Allen | Buffalo Bills |
