Month: February 2026

The NFL Honors might not take place until Thursday, but Tom Brady is ready to settle all the big award debates now. Brady announced the recipients of his LFG Awards for the 2025 NFL season on Sunday. The seven-time Super Bowl winner and three-time MVP dished out nine awards, making some traditional awards picks. But he also had a few non-traditional award selections, naming his Sixth Round Pick of the Year, Call of the Year and Best Value Player of the Year. “I know this goes up there with some of the greatest awards in award season,” Brady said of his LFG Awards. So, without further ado, here are Brady’s LFG Awards for the 2025 NFL season. LFG Player of the Year: Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams Brady didn’t name an MVP, but his LFG Player of the Year is the closest thing to it. And for that honor, he believes that Stafford was the Player of the Year. “I covered him a bunch this year. I was so impressed by what he did the entire season,” Brady said of Stafford. “I think his consistency was incredible. He showed up in the biggest moments for his teammates. He made throws so few guys in the NFL could make. They did it in tough conditions. Look, they play in a dome out there in SoFi, but he went on the road and they were great on the road. They were great in the wind. He had his main guys go down a few times. Puka [Nacua] was down. Davante [Adams]was down. And he always found ways to produce. He had an incredible touchdown-to-interception ratio. He was absurd.” Stafford ended the regular season as the favorite to win MVP, having the best season of his 17-year career. He led the league in passing yards (4,707) and passing touchdowns (46), leading the Rams to a 12-5 record and an NFC title game appearance. Brady also had a couple of honorable mentions for the award, naming Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Buffalo Bills running back James Cook in that group. Fortunately for Smith-Njigba, he’s taking home some other hardware instead … LFG Offensive Player of the Year: Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams; Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seattle Seahawks While Brady had a clear winner for most of his awards, there were a couple of awards for which he felt he couldn’t pick just one person. LFG Offensive Player of the Year was one of them. “I know, it’s too hard to pick between the two of them, but they’re both phenomenal. On a team, when you’re the quarterback, you love having two of these guys. Not just one. Puka, what can I say about him? Tremendous catches, his body control, yards after catch, those suction cup hands of his — he’s made some of the most ridiculous plays this season. “Then, JSN, had a 100-plus catches, one-handed catches in the [NFC] Championship Game, big catches and touchdown catches. He was [Sam] Darnold’s, I don’t even want to say safety blanket. He was an explosive player. He did everything for that team in the pass game.” Smith-Njigba and Nacua both finished the regular season as the favorites to win Offensive Player of the Year. They were also each named as unanimous selections to the AP All-Pro first team. Smith-Njigba and Nacua also showed out in last week’s NFC Championship Game. The Seahawks star had 10 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown in the win, while the Rams’ receiver logged nine grabs for 165 yards and a touchdown. LFG Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett, edge rusher, Cleveland Browns Unlike with LFG Offensive Player of the Year, Brady’s pick for LFG Defensive Player of the Year was clear. “[Garrett] broke my buddy Michael Strahan’s record, which is absolutely insane,” Brady said. “The impact he has on every game is second-to-none. He’s just a hard-working guy, Myles is. For a guy that gets as much attention by every offensive coordinator — in terms of gameplanning, tackles, chip blocks — what are you going to do to this guy? He’s got a great motor, and he knocks people out.” Garrett was the catalyst of a Browns’ defense that was one of the best in football. As Brady mentioned, Garrett’s 23 sacks this season gave him the single-season sack record. He also had three games where he recorded at least three sacks, including a three-sack outing against the Patriots in Week 8. There was another player Brady wanted to give props to, though. “I want to give love to my guy Micah Parsons, too,” Brady said. “I know he played incredible throughout the entire season. At the point he got injured and tore his ACL, he led the league in pressures. So, that could’ve been something special down the stretch.” LFG Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers For Brady, McMillan was a clear choice to win the LFG Offensive Rookie of the Year. “I didn’t cover a lot of Carolina games, but what I saw from him was a dynamic ability to get open, catch the ball down the field, explosive plays and ball possession plays,” Brady said. “He really rose to the occasion. There were some questions coming out of the draft. But I think he showed to everyone what he’s all about with a monster year.” McMillan led all rookies in receiving yards (1,014) and receiving touchdowns (seven) as he ranked in the top-15 in the league in both categories. That helped the Panthers become one of the NFL’s surprise teams this season and win the NFC South But there is another offensive rookie Brady wanted to tip his cap to. “I covered a lot of Bears games and watched this offense perform, and Kyle Monangai as a seventh-round pick, I kept saying sixth-round pick on the air … he ran so hard, so forceful and determined,” Brady said. “He was like a dynamo back there. Every time Caleb [Williams] handed the ball off to him, he was running through people’s facemasks. I love that style of play. You had a tremendous year, Kyle.” Monangai ran for 783 yards on 4.6 yards per carry and five touchdowns, helping the Bears win the NFC North behind one of the league’s top rushing attacks. LFG Defensive Rookie of the Year: Nick Emmanwori, S, Seattle Seahawks Brady didn’t call any Seahawks games until the playoffs, but Emmanwori left such a strong impression on him that he felt he had no choice but to name the safety his LFG Defensive Player of the Year. “There’s some great competition out there, but the guy that I’ve covered the last two weeks on Seattle’s defense, who does it all. He’s kind of a joker out there. They play him as basically a nickel defender and they leave him out there: Nick Emmanwori, what an animal this guy is,” Brady said. “He’s big. He’s fast. He’s physical. He made some game-changing plays last Sunday in the championship game — covering people, knocking balls away, pass defense, tackles in the run game, aggressive in his run fits. This guy has a very bright future.” Emmanwori was 10th in tackles among rookies (81 combined tackles) to go with 2.5 sacks. While Emmanwori has had a strong postseason, his Week 14 performance against the Atlanta Falcons was one for the ages. He had two tackles for loss, a sack, a blocked field goal and an interception in that game, showing his all-around ability. LFG Coaches of the Year: Ben Johnson (Chicago Bears), Mike Vrabel (New England Patriots), Mike Macdonald (Seattle Seahawks), Liam Coen (Jacksonville Jaguars) Coach of the Year seems to be the most hotly contested of the major awards this season, and Brady views it the same way. He picked four coaches as his LFG Coach of the Year. “Ben Johnson in Chicago, [what] a ridiculous year. How he taught Caleb [Williams] the offense he wanted to run, play to the skill sets of the guys was insane,” Brady said of the Bears head coach’s first season in Chicago, leading his team to an 11-6 record and an NFC North title. Brady also shouted out Macdonald and Coen, who led their respective teams to division titles as well. “We also have Mike Macdonald in Seattle, who’s done the most unbelievable job with that defense, suffocating opponents week-in, week-out,” Brady said. “Seventeen points [allowed] per game, that’s absolutely absurd. And the respect your players have for you. “Liam Coen, one year as a coordinator in Tampa, moves onto to Jacksonville and has an incredible season with Trevor Lawrence in that offense. So many great, young coaches in this league.” The Seahawks didn’t have as dramatic a turnaround as the Jaguars this year, but as Brady said, they were one of the league’s most dominant teams in 2025. The Seahawks went 14-3 in the regular season, with Macdonald’s defensive mind helping their defense lead the league in scoring. Offensively, Macdonald’s decision to hire Klint Kubiak as offensive coordinator paid major dividends as Sam Darnold had another strong year to help the Seahawks reach the Super Bowl. Finally, Brady also recognized Vrabel as one of his four recipients for LFG Coach of the Year as he’s helped the Patriots go from back-to-back 4-13 seasons to playing in the Super Bowl. “Vrabes, you’re like my brother,” Brady said. “I love ya, I’m so proud of ya. Even though you went to Ohio State, your caliber of decision-making was questionable back then, you’ve become a great teammate of mine and a Super Bowl champion. Not to mention a great goal line, and I’m just going to mention a goal line, wide receiver. You didn’t do anything outside of the 1-yard line. So, you’re not that good as a wide receiver, but you’re a hell of a coach.” And Brady has a message for the coaches he didn’t honor for LFG Coach of the Year. “All you coaches, get your asses back to work,” Brady said. “The season’s over, and the 2026 sesaon’s underway.” LFG 6th Round Pick of the Year: Quentin Lake, S, Los Angeles Rams Brady had a couple of names in mind to receive his LFG Sixth Round Pick of the Year honor. “[Lake] had a great year in the secondary, played nickel, safety, covered guys, zone coverage, man coverage, blitzing and they really missed him when he was out, that Rams defense,” Brady said. “When he was out, their points per game went way up. When he’s in, he’s the X-factor in that secondary. “One other guy, just as an honorable mention, Josh Metellus in Brian Flores’ defense. Same type of thing, versatile, does a lot of things, pressures, covers, picks, sacks, tackles and they do it all. So, don’t sleep on these sixth-rounders. They’re diamonds in the rough.” Lake, a sixth-round pick in the 2022 draft, had 61 total tackles, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and an interception in 10 games. He was also Pro Football Focus’ 13th-highest graded safety in 2025. As for Metellus, he had 86 total tackles and two interceptions, following in Brady’s footsteps as a productive sixth-round pick from Michigan. Of all the awards, this might be Brady’s favorite. “This just speaks to my heart, just thinking about these guys that are drafted late and are passed over all these times by these genius scouts and personnel executives that think they have all the answers all the time,” Brady said. “Sometimes, they just slipped through the cracks into the sixth-round.” LFG Call of the Year: Kevin Burkhardt’s call of Caleb Williams’ game-winning touchdown pass to DJ Moore in Bears’ Week 16 win vs. Packers Brady was initially asked to give his LFG Game of the Year, but when he reminisced on which game to pick, he instantly changed the award to LFG Call of the Year. “I’m changing this, it ain’t going to be LFG Game of the Year. It’s going to be the LFG Call of the Year, and that goes to my boy Kevin Burkhardt with that game in Week 16, Packers at Bears,” Brady said. “Bears get an onside kick, they score late, game goes to overtime, Caleb Williams drops an absolute dime, probably 60, 65 yards in the air with frigid temperatures in huge winds drops a dime to DJ Moore. My boy, Kevin Burkhardt, was on the call, and you know what? I’m not even going to describe it. Play the tape!” You’ve got it, Tom. Here’s Burkhardt’s call of the Bears’ game-winning touchdown from their Week 16 win over the Packers: “My boy KB with the call of the year,” Brady said. “I get goosebumps just thinking about it.” LFG Best Value Player of the Year: Nahshon Wright, CB, Chicago Bears The teams in the league are also the ones that can find productive talent at a cheap cost. The Bears did that this offseason when they signed Wright to a one-year, $1.1 million contract. “He had a tremendous season. He was an absolute turnover machine,” Brady said of Wright. “The Bears, they didn’t do a great job between the 20s. The ball was moved a lot. But when it came to turning the ball over, they were better than every team in the league and he was a huge reason why. He was intercepting passes, strip sacks, fumbles, fumble recoveries … what I saw with my eyes is that best value player in the year. “Congratulations, you’ve earned yourself quite a contract in the future. And shoutout Nashon Wright’s agent, you’re going to do pretty well, too.” Wright had a league-leading eight takeaways in 2025, logging five interceptions. He was also named a Pro Bowler as a result of his play, helping him out before he becomes a free agent again.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports