Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Jayden Daniels unsurprisingly won Offensive Rookie of the Year honors after emerging as the overwhelming favorite during his first season with the Commanders. 49 of the 50 people who voted for the award backed the QB, and the only one who went in a different direction explained his reasoning after the ballots were unexpectedly released to the public.
On Thursday night, the NFL Honors ceremony unfolded in New Orleans to recognize the players and coaches who stood out from their peers over the course of the season.
Plenty of people were surprised to see Josh Allen land the Most Valuable Player award over Lamar Jackson after the Ravens QB earned the All-Pro nod last month (although it’s worth noting the Bills star was the odds-on favorite).
However, I can’t imagine anyone was shocked to learn Jayden Daniels was named Offensive Rookie of the Year after leading the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game during his first season in an NFL uniform.
49 of the 50 media members The Associated Press tapped to vote for all of the awards listed Daniels as their top option on a ranked-choice ballot where they each put down five names, and prior to this year, we would have needed the lone defector to willingly make their choices public (or all 49 who backed Daniels to do the same) in order to figure out their identity.
However, according to Pro Football Talk, the organization decided to break with that tradition this year while neglecting to inform voters that would be the case, as the ballot for every award was posted on its website after they were handed out.
As a result, we now know former Pro Football Focus and current The 33rd Team analyst Sam Monson was the culprit, as he was the only person to give Raiders TE Brock Bowers a first-place vote (Daniels was his second choice).
Monson justified that decision a couple of hours after his ballot was made public while arguing Daniels benefitted from QB bias and pointing to what Bowers was able to achieve at a comparatively unheralded position.
Brock Bowers had an all-time great season at a position that is not easy to succeed at right out of the gate. Just like Daniels.
Daniels won because of the QB bonus in today’s game, but it’s pretty clear Bowers has a very strong case. https://t.co/4ivzPFpStv
— Sam Monson (@SamMonsonNFL) February 7, 2025
Bowers did have a great season where he set the rookie record for receptions by a player at any position with 112, and the 1,194 receiving yards he racked up broke the mark Mike Ditka set during his first season all the way back in 1961.
It’s hard to be too mad at Monson for going a different route when you consider it doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s pretty clear the rest of his peers made the objectively correct choice.