Aaron Rodgers wins "Never Say Never Moment of the Year" at NFL Honors
ATLANTA (CBS Sports) -- When Patrick Mahomes leaves Atlanta this week, he's probably going to have to check a few extra bags at the airport just to get all his trophies home, and that's because he was the big winner at the NFL Honors show that was held on Saturday.
The Chiefs quarterback won the MVP in a landslide over Drew Brees. Mahomes garnered 41 of the 50 votes from the Associated Press with Brees earning the other nine. With the win, Mahomes become the first Chiefs player in franchise history to take home the award. After being named MVP, Mahomes said it was nice, but there was one award that would be slightly better.
"It's a hard award to win," Mahomes said of the MVP. "The next award I hope I get is a Super Bowl. I wish I was playing this week, but at the same time, we did so many great things this year."
Besides winning the MVP, Mahomes was also named the Offensive Player of the Year and the FedEx Air Player of the Year.
The most surprising result of the night probably came in the Coach of the Year voting. Bears coach Matt Nagy won the award after leading Chicago to a 12-4 record that resulted in the Bears' first playoff berth since 2010. The surprising part of the vote was the fact that both Bill Belichick and Sean McVay were shut out, with neither Super Bowl coach receiving even a single vote.
Nagy wasn't the only Bears coach who walked away with an award on Saturday. The team's defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, was named the NFL's Assistant Coach of the Year.
Another big winner in Atlanta was Aaron Donald. The Rams star was named the Defensive Player of Year for the second straight season, joining Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt as the only repeat winners in NFL history. One of the tightest races of the night was for Offensive Rookie of the Year. In that category, Giants running back Saquon Barkley edged out Baker Mayfield by just five votes (26.5 to 21.5).
Here's a list of all the winners.
- AP NFL MVP: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
- AP Offensive Player of the Year: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
- AP Defensive Player of the Year: Aaron Donald (Rams)
- AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: Saquon Barkley (Giants)
- AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: Darius Leonard (Colts)
- AP Comeback Player of the Year: Andrew Luck (Colts)
- AP Coach of the Year: Matt Nagy (Bears)
- AP Assistant Coach of the Year: Vic Fangio (Bears)
- FedEx Air Player of the Year: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
- FedEx Ground Player of the Year: Saquon Barkley (Giants)
- Bridgestone Clutch Performance Play of the Year: Miami Miracle
- GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Year: Aaron Rodgers (Comeback win over the Bears)
- Game Changer Award Presented by Gillette: Shaquem Griffin (Seahawks)
- Built Ford Tough Offensive Line of the Year: Rams offensive line
- Walter Payton Man of the Year: Chris Long (Eagles)
- Salute to Service Award: Ben Garland (Falcons)
- Deacon Jones Award: Aaron Donald (Rams)
- Art Rooney Award: Drew Brees (Saints)
- Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year Award: Gabe Infante (St. Joseph's Prep, Philadelphia)
- Celebration of the Year: Seahawks
Voters decided to elect the following men into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year:
- Ed Reed
- Champ Bailey
- Gil Brandt
- Kevin Mawae
- Ty Law
- Johnny Robinson
- Tony Gonzalez
- Pat Bowlen