Aaron Rodgers, the MVP; Parsons and Chase, Rookies of the Year

The regular season ends and it is time to do our annual count with their respective recognitions to the best of the NFL.

As you know, the league will present its official awards at the “Honors” ceremony, the night before Super Bowl LVI, in Los Angeles.

But here we go ahead a month, with the selections that normally coincide in 80% with those of the journalists who vote (and even insult players).

Spoiler alert: Tom Brady is not taking any of these awards home.

Spoiler alert 2: Tampoco Jonathan Taylor.

Offensive Rookie

Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals

Chase was fourth in the league among wide receivers with 1,455 yards; third in touchdowns with 13 and second in receiving yards with 17.96.

He set a franchise record for a wide receiver, owned by Chad Johnson (or Ochocinco), with 1,440 yards in 2007. With 128 balls caught, he also surpassed the mark held by TJ Houshmandzadeh (112), in that same 2007 season.

As if that were not enough, his best performance of the season was in Week 17 against the Kansas City Chiefs, with 11 receptions, 266 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensive Rookie

Micah Parsons, Cowboys

The Parsons thing was just spectacular. The Dallas outside linebacker tied for fourth in the NFL with 30 hits to quarterbacks and was sixth with 13 sacks.

He finished his debut season in the league with 20 tackles for loss of yards, surpassed only by 21 for T.J. Watt Y Nick Bosa.

Parsons played virtually every position on the Cowboys front-7 and was a nightmare for the tackles when he was used as an edge by the defensive coordinator. Dan Quinn.

Offensive of the Year

Cooper Kupp, Rams

The most dominant offensive player in the league was this wide receiver, who led in targets (191), receptions (145), yards (1,947) and touchdowns (16).

He came within 17 yards of equaling the all-time yardage mark for a wide receiver, held by Calvin Johnson (Detroit, 2012), and four receptions of the record of Michael thomas, con 149 (New Orleans, 2019).

In regular season, Kupp was simply unstoppable in his first year with Matthew Stafforf as quarterback for the Rams. Can he keep up that impressive pace in the Playoffs?

The story, however, is not with Kupp.

Ni “Megatron” Johnson, ni July jones (1,871 yards, Atlanta, 2015), nor Jerry Rice (1,848 yards, San Francisco, 1995) played the Super Bowl despite their spectacular seasons.

Defender of the Year

T.J. Watt, Steelers

Not only did Watt lead the NFL in sacks, but he tied the all-time record for Michael Strahan, with 22.5 sacks in a single campaign. And he did so despite missing two games due to injury.

Additionally, Watt also led the NFL with 21 tackles for loss of yards and 39 hits to passers.

To his impressive campaign we must add 7 passes defended, 5 forced fumbles and 3 recovered.

¿Aaron Donald? Ten sacks less than Watt. No, this year there is no way they will deprive Watt of what should have belonged to him since last season.

Coach of the Year

Zac Taylor, Bengals

In his first two seasons in Cincinnati, Taylor was 6-25-1.

In 2020, the Bengals were last in the AFC North Division with a 4-11-1 record and in 2021, with Joe Burrow Healthy all year, Cincinnati came out of the basement to finish 10-7 and take the division crown, which they had not won since 2015.

The Bengals finished with the league’s seventh-best passing offense (259 yards per game) and were also seventh in points per game (27.1).

If Cincinnati doesn’t become the new version of the Browns, then Taylor’s team is the rival to beat in the AFC North.

Honorable mention for Rich Bisaccia, the special teams coordinator who stayed on as interim coach for the Raiders when the email scandal broke out. Jon Gruden.

Bisaccia took on a team that dodged many problems off the field (the wide receiver Henry Ruggs III was involved in a clash in which a woman lost her life) and kept him focused to win the last four of the season and qualify for the Playoffs with the thriller in the last game against the Chargers.

Executive of the Year

Jerry Jones, Cowboys

Jerry is criticized for sport, but this year you have to give him credit. First for having convinced Dak Prescott signing the contract extension with which both parties were satisfied, and then for having made one of the great robberies of the Draft with Micah Parsons.

Parsons and Trevon Diggs (NFL leader with 11 interceptions and second with 21 passes defended), Jones’ second-round pick in the 2020 Draft, are the two new leaders of a defense that promises big things in the short term.

This year looks difficult (not impossible), but Jerry is closer than ever to being able to return with his Cowboys to that Super Bowl that he has been denied since 1995.

MVP

Aaron Rodgers

This is not going to please Bruce Arians, but Tom Brady It is not the MVP. No, that recognition goes, for the second year in a row, to Rodgers, who so far has perfectly written the first part of the script for his own “The Last Dance.”

He has yet to win three more games to end his time in Green Bay with gold letters.

Rodgers led the Packers to the best record in the league (13-4) and finished with the best rating (111.9); he passed for 4,115 yards, with 37 touchdown passes and just four interceptions.

In the only game lost through injury, Green Bay only scored 7 points in the loss at Kansas City in Week 9.

This will be the fourth MVP Rodgers has put on his showcase, along with those he won in 2011, 2014 and 2020.