At NFL Honors, which will take place on the night of Thursday, Feb. 6 ahead of Super Bowl LIX, several awards will be handed out. Thursday morning the the finalists for those awards were announced, via results of AP voting that has voters rank their top-five picks for league MVP and their top-three for the other awards.
As expected, the 15-2, No. 1 seed in the NFC Detroit Lions are pretty well-represented on the lists of finalists.
The finalists for AP NFL MVP includes Lions quarterback Jared Goff, as he set career-highs in completion percentage (72.4 percent), touchdowns (37), yards per attempt (8.6) and passer rating (111.8) this season. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow join Goff as MVP finalists.
As expected, Lions' head coach Dan Campbell is a finalist for AP Coach of the Year. Kevin O'Connell (Minnesota Vikings), Sean Payton (Denver Broncos), Dan Quinn (Washington Commanders) and Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs) are the other Coach of the Year finalists.
Both coordinators the Lions have lost to head coaching jobs, Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, are among the finalists for Assistant Coach of the Year. Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio are the other finalists for Assistant Coach of the Year.
Detroit Lions have two noticeable award snubs
Of course, as is the case with any award process, there are snubs among the finalists for these awards.
Despite leading the league with nine interceptions this season, Lions safety Kerby Joseph was a notable Pro Bowl snub (it also cost him a solid amount of money). That was made right by his being named First-Team All Pro, but now he's not a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs was the league's leading scorer this season (non-kickers), with 20 total touchdowns. He was also third in the league in yards from scrimmage with 1,929, but he was not nominated for AP Offensive Player of the Year. That being said, it's hard to argue with the five finalists for that award (Jackson, Burrow, Barkley, Ja'Marr Chase and Derrick Henry).
The NFL Honors award ceremony will air on Thursday, February 6 at 9 p.m. ET on FOX and NFL Network.