It’s a honor to be nominated, as the cliche’ goes, but Aidan Hutchinson and Ben Johnson fell just short of taking home awards for the Detroit Lions on Thursday night.
At NFL Honors on Thursday night, if a Detroit Lion was going to win an award it was going to be defensive end Aidan Hutchinson or offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. They were of course up for Defensive Rookie of the Year and Asssistant Coach of the Year respectively, with strong cases to win.
Hutchinson won the fan-voted Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Year earlier on Thursday.
New York Jets cornerback Ahmad “Sauce Gardner was the betting favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year, and he indeed won it. Gardner got 46 first-place votes, while Hutchinson got three of the remaining four first-place tallies.
Johnson was also runner-up for Assistant Coach of the Year, as former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator and new Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans won. Johnson got 11 first-place votes to Ryans’ 35, but the Lions offensive coordinator did lead the way with 16 second-place votes.
Two more Detroit Lions garner votes for NFL awards
Lions head coach Dan Campbell dismissed his candidacy for NFL Coach of the Year when he had opportunities, and he was not a finalist for the award. Campbell came in seventh in the voting, as New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll took the award home. Campbell got a total of seven votes, including one first-place vote.
Jared Goff had a resurgent campaign in his second season as a Lion, finishing top-10 in the league in passing yards, touchdowns, passer rating, yards per attempt and QBR. He came in sixth for Comeback Player of the Year, including one first-place vote like Campbell. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith won Comeback Player of the Year.
The Lions have rarely been up for any NFL awards in recent years, so it’s noteworthy when they get nominations and register votes. The voting bodies clearly noticed the team’s turnaround this season.