2025 NFL Honors takeaways: Josh Allen 'surprised' to win MVP, Jayden Daniels comes up big and four new HOFers

All the major award-winners are crowned

NEW ORLEANS -- There hasn't been very much drama at the NFL Honors show over the past few years, but there was definitely some on Thursday night. 

There were plenty of surprises during the two-hour show, and we're going to break everything down with below. 

Split ticket for MVP

The AP voters handed the first-team All-Pro quarterback slot to Lamar Jackson, and over the past 38 years, that All-Pro quarterback has also won MVP. However, that trend ended this year, because those same AP voters handed the Most Valuable Player award to Josh Allen.

Based on how the voting broke down, Allen admitted that he was pretty shocked that he won. 

"I was pretty surprised, given what we know about how the voting goes," Allen said in a press conference after winning the award. "Lamar was very deserving of this as well."

It was the third-closest non-tie vote ever. It also was the first time since 1987 that a quarterback won MVP but was not the first-team All-Pro at QB. That's something to keep in mind when we see the All-Pro teams in the future. Now, we know that the first-teamer is not a guarantee to win the big award. Allen garnered 27 of 50 possible first-place votes, which allowed him to edge Jackson, who got the other 23. In terms of first-place votes, it was the closest MVP race since 2003 when Steve McNair and Peyton Manning tied for the award. 

Allen is the third Bills player to win MVP, joining Thurman Thomas (1991) and O.J. Simpson (1973).

2025 NFL Honors: Josh Allen named NFL MVP over Lamar Jackson, becomes third Bills player to win award

Bryan DeArdo

It's good to be a Kevin

For the third time in five years, a coach named Kevin won Coach of the Year. Granted, Kevin Stefanski did it in two of the previous four years before Kevin O'Connell won this year. And this information is not in any way actionable. But it's pretty interesting.

O'Connell is the first Vikings coach since Bud Grant in 1969 to take home the Coach of the Year award. Minnesota went 14-3 during a season where it nearly won the NFC North, and O'Connell spearheaded Sam Darnold's resurgence. O'Connell received 25 first-place votes, which were just six more than Dan Campbell, who finished in second place. 

2025 NFL Honors: Vikings' Kevin O'Connell wins Coach of the Year

Bryan DeArdo

Heisman to rookie of the year is now a trend

Jayden Daniels became the fourth player since 2000 to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award one season after winning the Heisman. Kyler Murray was the last quarterback to pull off that double, and before that, Cam Newton and Vince Young both did it. Daniels also took home the NextGen Stats Moment of the Year trophy for his Hail Mary to beat the Bears. So, he had himself an eventful night. (And came dressed in a great suit.)

Daniels is now the third Washington player to win Rookie of the Year, joining Robert Griffin (2012) and Mike Thomas (1975).

Jayden Daniels wins NFL OROY: Jerry Jones 'sick' about Cowboys having to face Commanders QB twice per year

Bryan DeArdo

Snoop was pretty solid

The 14th annual NFL Honors show was hosted by Snoop Dogg, and he definitely didn't hold back. He opened the show by making a ref joke. "This is an incredible Super Bowl matchup between the Eagles and the refs," Snoop said. 

He also pointed out that the show was being held in New Orleans. "We're in the big easy. That's Patrick Mahomes' nickname for the AFC." After Snoop made that joke, the camera panned to Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who was NOT amused. 

Oh, and we can't forget about Snoop's wildest joke of the night, when he roasted Bill Belichick for dating a 24-year-old. 

In another surprise, Patrick Surtain II won the Defensive Player of the Year award, becoming just the sixth cornerback in NFL history take home the trophy. Joe Burrow also won the Comeback Player of the Year award for the second time and cracked a joke as soon as he won it. 

"Not necessarily an award you want to win twice," Burrow said. 

Here's a full list of the awards that were handed out

• AP Most Valuable Player: Josh Allen (Bills)
• AP Coach of the Year: Kevin O'Connell (Vikings)
• AP Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Burrow (Bengals)
• AP Offensive Player of the Year: Saquon Barkley (Eagles)
• AP Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Surtain II (Broncos)
• AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: Jayden Daniels (Commanders)
• AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jared Verse (Rams)
• AP Assistant coach of the Year: Ben Johnson (Lions)
• Next Gen Stats Moment of the Year: Jayden Daniels Hail Mary
• Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year: Arik Armstead (Jaguars)
• Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025: Jared Allen, Sterling Sharpe, Eric Allen, Antonio Gate
• Salute to Service Award presented by USAA: George Kittle (49ers) 

We had live updates throughout the night, so you can re-live the magic below.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:50 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Drew Brees and Steve Gleason present the Walter Payton Man of the Year award -- considered the league's highest honor -- to Jaguars defensive lineman Arik Armstead.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:49 pm ET · John Breech]

Josh Allen is the MVP, which means we're almost done here at NFL Honors. Here's everything that's been handed out so far: 

• AP Most Valuable Player: Josh Allen (Bills)
• AP Coach of the Year: Kevin O'Connell (Vikings)
• AP Comeback Player of the Year: Joe Burrow (Bengals)
• AP Offensive Player of the Year: Saquon Barkley (Eagles)
• AP Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Surtain II (Broncos)
• AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: Jayden Daniels (Commanders)
• AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jared Verse (Rams)
• AP Assistant coach of the Year: Ben Johnson (Lions)
• Next Gen Stats Moment of the Year: Jayden Daniels Hail Mary
• Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year: TBD
• Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025: Jared Allen, Sterling Sharpe, Eric Allen, Antonio Gates
• Salute to Service Award presented by USAA: George Kittle (49ers)

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:43 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

According to the CBS Sports research department, this is the first time that the MVP and First-Team All-Pro QB were different players (in a year where a quarterback won MVP) since 1987.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:43 pm ET · John Breech]

Josh Allen is third Bills player to win MVP, joining Thurman Thomas (1991) and O.J. Simpson (1973)

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:42 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Full MVP voting: Allen won by a whopping 21 points. 27 first-place votes to 23 for Lamar. 

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:39 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

MVP: Josh Allen. Some may have been tipped off to this by the fact that Allen is here at the ceremony and Lamar is not. Very strange given that the same voters named Lamar Jackson the First Team All-Pro QB by a significant margin. That said, Allen was amazing and is obviously very deserving: 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, league-best 77.3 QBR, plus 531 rushing yards and 12 more touchdowns.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:38 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Presenting the MVP finalists are Bills LT Dion Dawkins (Josh Allen), former Eagles RB LeSean McCoy (Saquon Barkley), Kurt Warner (Joe Burrow), Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson (Jared Goff) and Ravens legend Ray Lewis (Lamar Jackson).

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:32 pm ET · John Breech]

Kevin O'Connell is the first Vikings coach since Bud Grant in 1969 to take home the coach of the year award. 

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:31 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Coach of the Year: Kevin O'Connell of the Vikings. Minnesota went 14-3 and nearly won the NFC North and No. 1 seed in the NFC, and O'Connell spearheaded Sam Darnold's apparently CPOY-worthy turnaround.

Pretty close vote between KOC and Dan Campbell, whose team actually did win the NFC North and No. 1 seed.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:29 pm ET · John Breech]

It's now time for the coach of the year award and BILL BELICHICK is handing it out. Belichick won the award three times. Deion also handing it out. 

Here are the finalists this year: 

• Dan Campbell
• Kevin O'Connell
• Sean Payton
• Dan Quinn
• Andy Reid

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:24 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

DROY Jared Verse says he's not going to be satisfied with merely being DROY like some other winners. He views it as a small step toward bigger goals.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:23 pm ET · John Breech]

This is NOT my best picture, but here's your Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the HOF class of 2025.  John Breech/CBS Sports

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:18 pm ET · John Breech]

George Kittle takes home the salute to service award 

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:15 pm ET · John Breech]

Here is your offensive rookie of the year: Jayden Daniels. He just stopped in to say hi. 

Jayden Daniels showing off his rookie of the year trophy. John Breech/CBS Sports

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:14 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Snoop Dogg and Roger Goodell are trying to make Roger Goodell seem cool. It is vaguely funny but not successful.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:11 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

The other finalists this year were Willie Anderson, Jahri Evans, Torry Holt, Luke Kuechly, Eli Manning, Steve Smith Sr., Terrell Suggs, Fred Taylor, Adam Vinatieri, Reggie Wayne, Darren Woodson and Marshal Yanda.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:10 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Once Sterling Sharpe is inducted, he and Shannon Sharpe will be the first pair of brothers in the Hall of Fame.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:07 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class

• Former Vikings, Chiefs, Bears and Panthers DE Jared Allen
• Former Packers WR Sterling Sharpe
• Former Eagles, Saints and Raiders CB Eric Allen
• Former Chargers TE Antonio Gates

[Feb 6, 2025 at 10:03 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Nikki Glaser is here to both present NFL Moment of the Year and roast Trevor Lawrence (they've both had some horrible times in Jacksonville, apparently) and Rob Gronkowski ("the big easy" is what he calls the books he reads, apparently), among others. You may recognize her from bringing down the house at the Tom Brady roast.

Moment of the Year goes to the Jayden Daniels Hail Mary to Noah Brown to beat the Bears. Which was pretty ridiculous. Daniels doesn't really know what to say (he's already given a speech tonight) except that it was a crazy play.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:59 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

DROY voting here. Verse won by a decent amount. His teammate Braden Fiske came in third. The second- and fourth-place finishers were also teammates, and members of the same position group. Rams D-Line and Eagles DBs dominated the voting.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:54 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Jared Verse. He had an amazing season for the Rams, capped by an absolutely dominant first-round playoff game against the Vikings. He ranked fourth among all players in pressures during the regular season, per NextGen Stats.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:53 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

They brought out Vikings safety Cam Bynum to present Defensive Rookie of the Year with Terry Crews. For some reason, a dance battle broke out between Bynum (whose interception celebrations went viral this year), Rams defensive lineman Kobie Turner and a few other players. We are somehow still waiting for the DROY announcement.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:50 pm ET · John Breech]

Pat Surtain just popped into the media room to say hello. He seemed pretty excited about winning the award even if my picture definitely does NOT convey that. 

Patrick Surtain was voted the NFL's defensive player of the year.  John Breech/CBS Sports

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:46 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

DPOY Pat Surtain is here addressing the media wearing an absolutely fantastic velvet green tux. Breech is getting a picture.

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:45 pm ET · John Breech]

The NFL just spent 10 minutes showing us who all the Man of the Year finalists are. You have not missed any awards being handed out, I repeat, you have not missed any awards being handed out. 

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:38 pm ET · John Breech]

Here is Randy Moss handing out the comeback player of the year award from home

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:36 pm ET · John Breech]

Joe Burrow is now two-time comeback player of the year winner (2021, 2024) joining Chad Pennington as the only player to win that award twice. 

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:35 pm ET · Jared Dubin]

Darnold, of course, came back from "being bad at football for several years."

[Feb 6, 2025 at 9:34 pm ET · John Breech]

Voters were instructed not to vote for Sam Darnold for comeback player, but the AP said that if someone DID vote for Darnold that the vote would still count. So what happened? Darnold ended up finishing in third behind Burrow and JK Dobbins.