NFL 2019: Our picks for MVP, rookie of the year, Super Bowl champion and more
The 2019 season is upon us.
The NFL kicks off its 100th season on Thursday night with the Green Bay Packers at the Chicago Bears, a game that can be livestreamed on the Yahoo Sports mobile app. That begins the march to Super Bowl LIV in South Florida on Feb. 2.
The New England Patriots are defending champions (again), but they’ll have plenty of competition for the crown. Here are the predictions for this season from Yahoo Sports’ NFL writers.
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Most Valuable Player: Half of our eight panelists are going with a repeat for Patrick Mahomes. Even if Mahomes has a regression from his 5,000-yard, 50-touchdown season, he can still put up monster numbers to win the award. And the Chiefs should be a Super Bowl contender.
Defensive player of the year: Six different players got votes. There were five pass rushers and Terez Paylor took Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack were the two to get multiple votes.
Rookie of the year: We combined the offensive and defensive rookie of the year awards into one, and not surprisingly No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray got four of the votes. Kimberley A. Martin was the only one to take a defensive player, choosing Steelers linebacker Devin Bush.
Coach of the year: Some very interesting choices here, and it was surprising to see which two coaches got multiple votes: Jets coach Adam Gase and Packers rookie head coach Matt LaFleur.
Biggest surprise: Our writers were allowed to pick any team, player or coach for this category, and they landed on differing opinions on the Giants quarterback controversy, with some love for the Bills and Jaguars.
Biggest disappointment: Not a lot of faith for the Chicago Bears here, as two writers picked them to miss the playoffs. Saints, Cowboys, Chargers and Cardinals fans might want to clip and save this one too.
Super Bowl picks: The Chiefs, Patriots, Eagles and Saints got most of the attention here, taking up every slot except Frank Schwab’s pick of the Chargers to win the AFC. Curiously nobody picked the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, and that probably means New England will win yet another title in February.
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