Tua, Tyreek Finalists for AP Awards
The NFL will announce its major award winners at NFL Honors three days before Super Bowl LVIII, and the Miami Dolphins now have two players among the finalists for one of those awards.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill was named a finalist for the AP Offensive Player of the Year and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was named a finalist for the Comeback Player of the Year award.
The AP awards were voted on before the playoffs began by a panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL and will be announced Feb. 8.
Hill is up for the OPOY award along with NFL MVP finalists Lamar Jackson, Christian McCaffrey and Dak Prescott, with the fifth finalist being Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.
McCaffrey was named this week as the Pro Football Writers of America's choice for Offensive Player of the Year, but that came in a vote of the entire PFWA membership.
Lamar Jackson should be considered the overwhelming favorite to be named NFL MVP and could double up with the Offensive Player of the Year award, though those have gone to two different players the past four years.
Patrick Mahomes was MVP last season while Justin Jefferson was OPOY; Aaron Rodgers was MVP in 2020 and 2021 when the OPOYs were Derrick Henry and Cooper Kupp, respectively; and Jackson was the 2019 MVP when the OPOY was Michael Thomas of the Saints.
The last player to win both awards was Mahomes in 2018.
Hill broke his own Dolphins franchise record with 1,799 yards this season and would have had a legitimate shot at reaching the historic 2,000-yard mark if not for the ankle injury he sustained in the Dec. 11 game against the Tennessee Titans that forced him to miss a game and slowed him down the rest of the season.
Tua is a finalist for the Comeback Player of the Year award after returning from multiple concussions to play every game in the 2023 season.
The other finalists are QB Joe Flacco of the Cleveland Browns, S Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills, QB Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and QB Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams.
Hamlin, who suffered cardiac arrest in a January regular season game at Cincinnati before being revived, is considered the prohibitive favorite to win this award.
Other finalists with Dolphins ties include former Miami interim head coach Dan Campbell, who's up for Coach of the Year; Bobby Slowik, the brother of Dolphins outside linebackers coach Ryan Slowik and the OC of the Houston Texans, being up for Assistant Coach of the Year; and Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr., the son of the former Dolphins linebacker, up for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
NFL Honors, which debuted in 2012, will also feature the announcement of the prestigious Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year presented by Nationwide and the newest Pro Football Hall of Fame Class the week leading up to the Super Bowl.
AP AWARD FINALISTS
Here's the complete list of 2023 NFL award finalists (players listed alphabetically):
NFL MVP
QB Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
QB Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
QB Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
QB Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
COACH OF THE YEAR
Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions
John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens
DeMeco Ryans, Houston Texans
Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns
ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR
OC Ben Johnson, Detroit Lions
DC Mike Macdonald, Baltimore Ravens
OC Todd Monken, Baltimore Ravens
DC Jim Schwartz, Cleveland Browns
OC Bobby Slowik, Houston Texans
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
WR Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins
QB Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
WR CeeDee Lamb, Dallas Cowboys
RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
QB Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
CB DaRon Bland, Dallas Cowboys
DE Maxx Crosby, Las Vegas Raiders
DE Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns
LB Micah Parsons, Dallas Cowboys
LB T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers
COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR
QB Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns
S Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills
QB Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
QB Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
QB Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions
TE Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions
WR Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams
RB Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons
QB C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
LB Will Anderson, Houston Texans
DT Jalen Carter, Philadelphia Eagles
CB Joey Porter Jr., Pittsburgh Steelers
DT Kobie Turner, Los Angeles Rams
CB Devon Witherspoon, Seattle Seahawks
