The Ringer Staff’s 2025 NFL Playoff and Awards Predictions

NFLNFL The Ringer Staff’s 2025 NFL Playoff and Awards Predictions Are the Eagles destined to repeat? Who will win MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, and other awards? We have the answers. Getty Images/AP Images/Ringer illustration

The 2025 NFL season gets underway Thursday night as the Dallas Cowboys take on the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles. But before we think about Dak Prescott versus Philly’s vaunted defense, The Ringer’s NFL writers came together to predict which teams will make the playoffs and who will come away with awards at the end of the season. Here’s what they came up with.

Playoff Predictions and Super Bowl Winner

Steven Ruiz: I know I will regret this pick when the Ravens are down by 14 points against Kansas City in the AFC championship game, but Baltimore is going to break through one of these seasons, and this feels like the one. The offense just keeps getting better with Lamar Jackson and Todd Monken collaborating. The defense took off in the second half of last season under first-year coordinator Zach Orr, and I’m not expecting the same early-season sloppiness that cost Baltimore home-field advantage in the postseason. A better regular-season record will lead to better postseason results this time around. As for my pick in the NFC, the Eagles have the best roster in the NFL. That will be enough to get them to the Super Bowl, where they’ll face the team with the league’s best quarterback.

Sheil Kapadia: If I pick the Bills every year, I have to be correct at least once, right? RIGHT?!?! Josh Allen is at the peak of his powers and has a good offensive line and a well-rounded supporting cast. Buffalo's projected schedule looks easier than those of its AFC counterparts, so I'm counting on the Bills to grab the 1-seed and host the divisional round and the AFC championship. Do I trust the defense in a big spot against Patrick Mahomes? Of course not! But let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Nora Princiotti: It’s time for some fresh faces in February. In the NFC, I like Green Bay’s coaching stability, Jordan Love’s development, and, of course, the defense with Micah Parsons in the fold. That’s more than enough for a great year and a run past other conference contenders like the Eagles and the Lions. It’s not quite enough, however, to get past Baltimore. I’m a firm believer that most of the Ravens’ struggles in the playoffs have come down to noise and small sample sizes. They have the most complete roster in the NFL and a quarterback playing at a tippy-top level. It’s time to get it done.

Diante Lee: For the third season in a row, Baltimore has every piece it needs to win a championship. Jackson has been on a steady ascent over the past couple of seasons, and there’s too much continuity here to expect this offense to be anything other than elite. If the run game holds (and I’ll never doubt the ageless Derrick Henry) and the defense builds on its hot streak from the end of the regular season, I have no doubt that this can be the NFL’s best team and the eventual champion. Baltimore will secure its third title in as many decades and cement Jackson as one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Danny Kelly: Look, I’m tired of picking the Ravens to win the Super Bowl every year; they keep letting me down. So this year I’m going to pick a different team that will inevitably let me down: the Bills. Buffalo has a relatively easy schedule (fifth easiest, per Warren Sharp) and a path toward earning the no. 1 seed in the conference and that coveted playoff home-field advantage. If they can do that, the Bills will have a great chance to finally get over the hump and win it all.

Danny Heifetz: It’s super boring to pick a repeat champion. I don’t care. I saw what I saw. The Eagles are clearly the best team in the NFC. Picking a non-Eagles team to make the Super Bowl gives me hives. As long as Philly can push its QB in the butt for a yard gain whenever it wants, I’ll pick the Eagles to win the Super Bowl.

Lindsay Jones: Yes, a boring chalk pick here. But this roster is (still) stacked, and they've got so many different ways they can win—through Saquon Barkley and the run game, with deep balls to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, with Jalen Hurts in short yardage, or on the back of their suffocating defense. It feels inevitable that they'll face one of the AFC's Big Three in the Super Bowl, but Philadelphia is built for those big stages.

Anthony Dabbundo: I had the Packers representing the NFC in the Super Bowl before the Parsons trade, and I like them even more now. Parsons is the missing elite pass rusher who can give the Packers defense some real upside. However, the Ravens are on one of the best five-year runs in NFL history and have no playoff success to show for it. I understand that Baltimore "can't win the big one," but you could say that about every team until it actually does it. Jackson is poised to finally overcome his playoff demons.

Austin Gayle: The Bills have the easiest path to the Super Bowl of any of the contenders, plus one of the four best quarterbacks in the NFL and a proven, floor-raising defensive head coach in Sean McDermott. McDermott mitigates a lot of the concerns about their secondary outside of star cornerback Christian Benford, and I like their depth in the front seven, especially after they added former Chargers pass rusher Joey Bosa to start opposite Gregory Rousseau along the defensive line. Nothing is guaranteed in the same conference as Mahomes, Jackson, and Joe Burrow, but this is the best I’ve felt about the Bills’ chances going into any year of the Allen era.

MVP

Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills

Kapadia: I am tempted to go with a sleeper like Brock Purdy, Love, or C.J. Stroud. But my editors said that we can't delete this from the internet if I'm wrong, so I'll go with Allen. I think that the Bills will be the 1-seed, and I think Allen will have to put up ridiculous numbers if Buffalo's defense struggles early in the season.

Heifetz: Back-to-back MVPs are hard to win, but Josh has so much less skill talent around him than others who are in this conversation that it’s hard not to have sympathy. The Bills are good enough, and their schedule is weak enough, that they can pull off a 14-win season.

Kelly: Allen is a superhero quarterback. He’s got a howitzer of an arm, has become ultra-efficient as a passer, and does some of the craziest shit with his legs you’ve ever seen. He’s a threat to score every time he drops back. If the Bills end up being as good as I’ve predicted they’ll be, I’d bet on Allen winning this award for the second straight year.

Gayle: Fellow Ringer staffer Anthony Dabbundo almost convinced me to switch this to Burrow, but I’m sticking with Allen. I like Khalil Shakir and James Cook as much as the next guy, but everyone knows that Allen is the straw that stirs the drink in Buffalo. I know that repeat MVPs are rare—only Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers have won back-to-back MVPs this millennium—but Allen is a rare dude.

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Jones: One of the exciting things about a new season is wondering what Jackson will do to surprise us this time. I believe we’re now in an era of the NFL in which Jackson, Allen, and Mahomes will just cycle through as MVPs—each trying to one-up the others. Now Jackson is on arguably the deepest and most complete Ravens team of his career, and this is the season when he’ll prove on a weekly basis that he’s the league’s best QB.

Princiotti: Jackson could easily have won this award last season, and the Ravens arguably have a better roster around him now. He should also take another step forward—if that’s even possible after a year with more than 4,100 passing yards and 900 rushing yards.

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals

Ruiz: I’m going with Burrow by process of elimination. Mahomes doesn’t have enough help to put up MVP numbers. Based on last season’s voting results, Jackson may have to post the league’s first 50-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio to overcome voter fatigue and win his third trophy. Allen won last season and may not throw the ball enough to outproduce Burrow, who will likely lead the NFL in dropbacks once again this year. The Bengals offense is going to shred this year—it’ll need to, considering the state of Cincinnati’s defense—and that’ll help Burrow stack gaudy volume stats. If he can also lead his team back to the playoffs, which I have predicted will happen, voters will jump at the chance to give a different quarterback the award.

Dabbundo: History says that Burrow is a bad MVP pick. You usually need to be on a top-two seed to win this award, and the Bengals defense has so many holes that it’s unlikely that the team will finish the season with a better record than the Ravens in the AFC North. But the MVP is also a late-season narrative award. I’d argue that there’s been no more oversaturated narrative in the entire offseason than the constant reminders of how bad Burrow’s defensive supporting cast is. If Cincinnati is an 11-6 wild-card team, imagine how strong the push will be from voters to reward Burrow for carrying a cheap franchise and terrible defense back to the playoffs.

Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders

Lee: This is the year for a guy like Jayden Daniels, who can prove that his unprecedented rookie season was not a fluke and that his unique skill set should garner praise among his elite peers. His accuracy, his poise, and the added value that his scrambling gives Washington in obvious passing situations will propel the Commanders into the playoffs—and Daniels into rarefied air—by season’s end.

Offensive Player of the Year

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals

Heifetz: This award is for players who hit nice round numbers (but aren’t MVP): running backs with 2,000 yards, quarterbacks who throw for 5,000 yards, and so on. I think that Burrow will hit 5,000 yards this year and make the playoffs (unlike last season, when he had 4,918 yards and missed the playoffs), which will be enough to earn him this award if we don’t get another ludicrous season from Barkley.

Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals

Jones: Unofficially, this is the Best Non-QB Award, and Chase once again should be putting up wild receiving numbers for the Bengals. Cincinnati will have to win games by scoring 30-plus points, and Chase is more than capable of handling a heavy load of targets.

Ruiz: Chase got 175 targets last season. One hundred and seventy-five! There’s no reason—aside from injury—to expect that number to decrease this season, and there’s no reason to expect the 25-year-old to slow down after winning the receiver triple crown a season ago. He’ll lead the league in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns once again, and if Cincinnati makes the playoffs, that will give him the boost he needs to take this award.

Gayle: Barkley’s record-breaking 2024 campaign really overshadowed Chase’s triple crown last year, but I think that the Bengals’ star wideout can do it again. No receiver has had more than one triple crown season in the Super Bowl era, but I wouldn’t put that feat past Chase.

A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles

Dabbundo: It sure would be something if the Eagles had the OPOY winner in back-to-back seasons, right? Brown might have resorted to reading books on the sideline for parts of last year because of how low volume the Eagles’ passing game was, but he was still a top-five receiver in yards per route run. He’s dominant in one-on-one matchups on the boundary, throws where Hurts excels. Brown has had injury issues in each of the past two seasons, but when he plays, the Eagles win. And I expect Philadelphia’s defense to take a step back because of the tougher schedule this season, which will force the team into more passing scripts late in games. If teams sell out more to slow Barkley down, Brown could have a massive season.

Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens

Kelly: The past six winners of this award were super-productive non-quarterbacks on very good teams. I think that Henry will check those boxes. Last year, he racked up 2,100-plus scrimmage yards and 18 total touchdowns, and he still left some meat on the bone—with the Ravens scoring 41 times through the air compared with 21 times on the ground. If those touchdown numbers get a little bit closer to each other for the Ravens in 2025—and Henry’s the beneficiary of it—he’ll have a real shot at running away with this honor.

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

Princiotti: Gibbs had a truly bananas 2024 season—a total of 1,929 yards and a league-high 20 touchdowns—and that was all while sharing a workload with David Montgomery. The Lions will likely lean on Gibbs a bit more heavily this time around, and if his production comes at a similar pace, he’ll be winning plenty of people’s fantasy leagues, plus this award.

Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons

Lee: Strictly based on his efficiency, Bijan Robinson is already one of the 10 best running backs in the NFL. His elusiveness, vision, and burst help him make something out of nothing in a way very few can. If there’s one thing that’s escaped him, it's been the home run play, the kind of backbreaking, explosive run that catapults a running back from great to otherworldly. This is the year when Robinson will turn his carries against light boxes into huge gains and deliver on the promise he showed when he was selected in the top 10 of the draft a couple of years ago.

Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams

Kapadia: I have Nacua as a top-five wide receiver in the NFL. His efficiency numbers are elite, and I think he'll lead the NFL in receiving yards (yes, even if Jimmy Garoppolo is throwing to him for a stretch this season).

Defensive Player of the Year

Micah Parsons, Green Bay Packers

Princiotti: Wouldn’t this be juicy? Parsons is obviously skilled enough to win this award; he’s finished in the top three in DPOY voting three times in his career. The big if is the health of his back, but if Parsons stays on the field, he’ll be as motivated as ever and surrounded by a better complement of pass rushing talent in Green Bay than he was in Dallas.

Heifetz: Sometimes, the obvious thing happens.

Will Anderson Jr., Houston Texans

Lee: Since he was drafted in 2023, I’ve been pounding the table and insisting that Anderson could be the NFL’s best overall edge rusher before the conclusion of his first contract. Those are lofty expectations for certain, but we’ve seen him step into the league and have an instant impact against the run and pass, and there’s an argument to be made that he’s already the heartbeat of the elite Texans defense. We know he’ll be disruptive in the run game again, but this year should also provide him with ample opportunities to break out in terms of sack production—and on some high-profile national stages.

Ruiz: I’m really high on the Texans this year. And while I think that the offense will be greatly improved, it’s DeMeco Ryans's defense that’s largely inspiring the optimism. It’ll lead the league in all of the metrics, and Anderson will be the star of the unit. He was during Houston’s postseason run last season, when he blew up the trenches of the Chargers and Chiefs. He’s not facing a murderer’s row of offensive lines playing in the AFC, so if the Texans win a lot of games, Anderson should get plenty of real pass rushing opportunities.

Dabbundo: The Texans are my top-ranked defense entering the season, and they performed well last year in high-profile matchups with the Chiefs and Bills. One major reason for that is Anderson. Patrick Surtain II won this award last year, but dominant pass rushers are always much more likely to take it if they can rack up counting stats.

Kapadia: He's coming off an 11-sack season and is only 24 years old. I think that the Texans defense will be one of the NFL's best and that Anderson can lead the league in sacks.

Gayle: The Texans have one of the best secondaries in the NFL and a more than complementary pass rusher opposite Anderson in veteran Danielle Hunter. Anderson is exactly the kind of athlete that’s destined for a breakout.

Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit Lions

Kelly: The Lions should have the benefit of playing with a lot of late-game leads, and that’ll give Hutchinson the chance to turbocharge his sack totals as he pins his ears back and gets after the passer. The guy tallied 7.5 sacks in five healthy games last year; a healthy Hutchinson could push for 20-plus sacks in 2025.

Jared Verse, Los Angeles Rams

Jones: We spend a lot of time talking about the second-year leap for quarterbacks. I’m counting on a big year two for Verse, last season’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. Verse is a sicko (complimentary)—he’s an elite shit-talker who backs it up with a devastating ability to get after the quarterback. He was fourth in the NFL in total pressures last year (77), and if he can turn more of those rushes into actual sacks (he had just 4.5 sacks as a rookie), he’ll be in the mix for this award.

Coach of the Year

Pete Carroll, Las Vegas Raiders

Kelly: Pete’s the ultimate floor raiser, and he’ll give the Raiders a shot at being one of the most improved teams in 2025. Carroll has created a real vibe shift in Las Vegas, bringing in a legit starting quarterback in Geno Smith before landing a tone-setter in the draft in Ashton Jeanty, who could help resuscitate the team’s run game. If Carroll can get more out of the defense this year, the Raiders could be a whole lot better than people think—and they could threaten for a wild-card playoff berth. That’d make Carroll a shoo-in for this award.

Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers

Kapadia: History tells us that this award goes to a team that has a big jump in wins from one year to the next and finishes 11-6 or better. I think that the 49ers have a chance to get there, and Shanahan has never won Coach of the Year, so there's a little lifetime achievement factor baked in here.

Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams

Lee: There are two things that I believe wholeheartedly about the Rams, and both affirm my thinking that McVay will win Coach of the Year: Los Angeles will be a legitimate threat in the NFC, and quarterback Matthew Stafford will miss time because of his back issues. McVay hasn’t had to quarterback-proof his offense since trading for Stafford in 2021, but we’ll certainly see that again if he has to get through a stretch of the season with backup Garoppolo. Expect the Rams to run the table in the division and McVay to stand alone as the NFL’s best offensive play caller in 2025.

Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs

Jones: This pick is simply me manifesting that the Chiefs offense will become fun again in 2025. Come on, Andy. I know you have it in you! After an offseason spent retooling the offensive line to, hopefully, improve protection for Mahomes, and with better health at the skill positions (and Rashee Rice’s eventual return from suspension), the pieces are there for Reid to dial up a more explosive offense. We know that the Chiefs can be competitive when they’re boring, but it’s time for them to be exciting again. And if Reid digs deep into his bag for a couple of fun trick plays like we used to see a few times a year, he’ll have my vote.

Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers

Gayle: Maybe the lack of an underdog narrative will keep LaFleur out of Coach of the Year conversations after the Packers made that blockbuster Parsons trade, but frankly, I don't care. Can we please give this man his flowers? LaFleur has quietly been one of the league's most consistent coaches since taking over in Green Bay in 2019. If he can steer the team to a no. 1 or 2 seed in 2025, voters need to do LaFleur justice.

Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots

Heifetz: Truly great coaches almost never win this award. Vrabel could be an exception.

Princiotti: I don’t think that the Patriots will be a genuine contender in the postseason this year, but if Vrabel can coach this team to nine wins, it’ll be the kind of bump award voters typically like to see.

Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals

Dabbundo: Carroll, Vrabel, and Ben Johnson are all compelling candidates who are on new teams this season, and this award often goes to teams who massively outperform expectations. But I’m picking Arizona as a surprise winner in the NFC West, and as a result, Gannon is the clear choice for me. His defense finally has a pass rush and could take a leap into the top 10. If that happens, he’ll be receiving plenty of national credit.

Ruiz: This is it. This is the year the Cardinals finally break out. And by “break out,” I mean “win 11 games and get knocked out of the playoffs by the first good team they play.” But winning those 11 games should be enough for Gannon to take home the prestigious award, which has been won by coaching legends such as Matt Nagy and Brian Daboll. If Arizona makes the playoffs, it won’t matter how fraudulent the team actually is. The last four winners of this award went a combined 1-4 in the postseason.

Comeback Player of the Year

Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit Lions

Kapadia: This seems like a lock. Hutchinson was the best defensive player in the NFL last year before he got injured. If I hadn't chosen Anderson for Defensive Player of the Year, Hutchinson would have been my pick. I think he’ll be a monster this season.

Ruiz: The 25-year-old returned from injury in time for camp this season and has apparently looked really freaking good. New defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who might be a bit biased, said that Hutchinson looks even better than he did before the injury. If that’s true—Sheppard wouldn’t lie to me, would he?—he should be in for an award-winning season.

Jones: He’s the betting favorite for a reason. Hutchinson was the league’s most disruptive pass rusher of 2024 before he suffered a gnarly leg injury, and if he’s back to even 90 percent of that form in 2025, he might end up leading the league in sacks.

Lee: In my heart of hearts, I do think that a quarterback who was injured last year will ultimately win this honor. But if I’m homing in on the spirit of the award and not just the box score, I feel that this should be Hutchinson’s trophy to take home. If he can get right back to his high-energy, chaotic play style, not only can this award be his, but Detroit might also finally get over the hump.

Gayle: I just don’t think that Hutch needs to do much to earn this award, which is probably why he’s the favorite to win it at plus-270. Dak Prescott has a chance to lose too many games to be in the running here, and it’s hard to project 29-year-old Christian McCaffrey to play a 17-game season after battling Achilles and knee injuries a year ago.

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

Princiotti: The 49ers typically bounce back after bad years, and McCaffrey should be a big part of that turnaround this season. All reports from training camp suggest that he’s in a healthier and better position than he was a year ago. If he can stay on the field, he should have a big year and get a lot of work.

Heifetz: If McCaffrey plays 17 games, he should be a lock for this one.

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

Dabbundo: The past seven winners of this award were quarterbacks, and I won’t buck that trend. The two best quarterback candidates for this seem to be Tua Tagovailoa and Prescott. I went with Prescott because while the Cowboys defense may stink, Prescott will have a lot of pressure on him to perform and put up massive counting stats. If Dallas surprises people in the post-Parsons era, it will be because of Prescott’s elite passing offense. It’s easy to forget that Dallas was 36-15 in the three years before last season’s disaster.

Kelly: If the Cowboys are going to be good at one thing this year, it’ll be passing the football. With big shifts on defense and a real lack of investment in the run game, Dallas will be asking an awful lot of Prescott—and I won’t be surprised if he challenges for the league lead in both passing yards and passing touchdowns.

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans

Lee: This was an easy pick. Ward has a friendly enough schedule (with only five games against teams that made last year’s playoffs), he’s playing behind what should be a much-improved offensive line, and he’s been able to keep a low profile in the early days of his career because there aren’t any real expectations for him. With most of his competition for this award playing running back for flawed teams, I feel pretty secure making this call.

Heifetz: This is an absolutely loaded field. Eight guys could win this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if any of them did. But I think that Ward will be good and fun and cool, and that’s usually enough for a quarterback.

Gayle: The Raiders’ shoddy offensive line will hurt Jeanty’s numbers even if Carroll gives him 30 carries a game. Omarion Hampton won’t even start for the Chargers in Week 1. Travis Hunter will be competing with sophomore phenom Brian Thomas Jr. for volume in the Jags’ passing attack. Maybe rookie Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan will break out as Bryce Young’s go-to target, but I just don’t see it happening right away. Ward, barring injury, should start all 17 games for the Titans and has a legit no. 1 receiver in Calvin Ridley and an above-average offensive line. The fact that Ward isn’t the favorite for OROY is just more evidence that the no. 1 pick (!) is being slept on.

Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders

Jones: Ward is the only rookie QB I can see being in the running for the award this season, so I think that voters will look elsewhere. We know that a Carroll-coached team will want to run the ball, so Jeanty will have plenty of opportunities to rack up yards and touchdowns. And if he makes just a handful of the explosive long runs he was known for at Boise State, that might be enough.

Kapadia: I have the Raiders as a sneaky playoff team, and they didn't draft Jeanty in the top 10 to have him sit on the sideline. I expect him to have a heavy workload and put up big numbers.

Princiotti: Jeanty playing in Carroll’s offense with 33-year-old Raheem Mostert as a backup? The Raiders will be pounding the rock, and Jeanty will thrive.

Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars

Dabbundo: Ward and Jeanty are the obvious picks here. But neither of them has the modern-day unicorn potential of Hunter. Technically, the award is for “Offensive” Rookie of the Year, but we all know that if Hunter is successful as a full-time offensive player and also contributes on defense, voters will look for a way to properly reward him at the end of the season. He’s one of the most unique draft prospects of the century, and I’m excited to see how often he can wow us on Sundays.

Omarion Hampton, Los Angeles Chargers

Kelly: The Chargers have an identity centered on running the football. And their strong offensive line should open up run lanes for Hampton. Los Angeles picked him in the first round because of the toughness and physicality he brings to the backfield, and the rookie running back will be the engine of the team’s ground attack.

Tetairoa McMillan, Carolina Panthers

Ruiz: This is less about my confidence in Young or the state of the Panthers’ passing game and more about the team’s depth chart at receiver. It’s McMillan and … pretty much no one else after Jalen Coker landed on the injured reserve list. Xavier Legette could, in theory, eat into the rookie’s target share, but he didn’t exactly earn Young’s trust last season. On the basis of a limited preseason sample, the eighth pick seems to have replaced him as Young’s favorite downfield target. A lot of targets will mean a lot of production for McMillan in a season when he won’t have a bunch of quarterbacks competing for the award.

Defensive Rookie of the Year

Abdul Carter, New York Giants

Ruiz: I was tempted to take Hunter here, but the Jaguars say that they see him as a wide receiver first. I’m skeptical that he’ll be able to get through the entire season playing both ways, and even if he does, it will be difficult for him to excel in both roles in his first NFL season. So I’m going with Carter, who looked electric in the preseason and is the current betting favorite to win the award. Somebody in New York has to win something.

Kelly: The Giants’ defensive line is already loaded, and adding Carter to the mix almost feels unfair. With opposing lines having to worry about Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and others, the rookie pass rusher should get plenty of one-on-one opportunities to get after the passer. Carter has a real shot at double-digit sacks in year one.

Lee: Of all my awards predictions, this is the only outright betting favorite to win, and Carter has a strong chance to earn it unanimously if he’s as productive as his raw talent suggests.

Princiotti: The best and most productive rookie pass rusher usually has the inside track to this award, and Carter is the safest bet to fill that role this season.

Dabbundo: As easy as it is to make the case for Carter, it’s even harder to make the case for anyone else in this rookie defensive class. Hunter won’t play enough snaps on defense, and defensive tackles like Mason Graham and Derrick Harmon rarely receive recognition with these awards. I’m not sure how good the Giants defense will be as a whole given their schedule and the secondary, but the pass rush looks ferocious on paper, and Carter was the consensus best defensive player in this draft class.

Gayle: This is obviously a chalky pick, but rightfully so. Carter will see favorable matchups all season, and I expect him to eat right from the get-go.

Heifetz: Carter will do a helluva Parsons impression as a rookie.

Jihaad Campbell, Philadelphia Eagles

Kapadia: I suspect that everyone else is picking Carter, so why not change it up? Campbell is slated to start for the Eagles, and I expect him to be a three-down player. He should pile up tackles and could be used to rush the passer later in the season.

Mykel Williams, San Francisco 49ers

Jones: Hunter is the fun pick here. But it’s much more likely that this award will go to a pass rusher—and Williams has a chance to be an impactful player right away on the San Francisco defense, which could be much improved this year. I have faith in new (old) defensive coordinator Robert Saleh to find favorable matchups for Williams as opponents focus on Nick Bosa.

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