NFL All-Decade Awards Part 1: Cumulative Awards

NFL All-Decade Awards Part 1: Cumulative Awards

The 2019 NFL season has concluded, fittingly ending with a 49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl thriller. The regular season awards for this year have been handed out, but how about awards from the entire 2010s decade? Lamar Jackson may be MVP now, but who’s the Most Valuable Player of the last ten years? Read on:

Most Valuable Player: Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

Tom Brady finally showed signs of decline at the age of 42, but he remains one of the better starting quarterbacks in the league. Brady and the Patriots owned the 2010s, making it to the AFC Championship or further from 2011-2018 with a chance to extend the streak this postseason. During this decade, Brady won two MVP awards, was selected to three All-Pro teams, made the Pro Bowl in every season except for 2019, won three Super Bowls (went to five), won a pair of Super Bowl MVPs, and much, much more. In 2010, he became the only player in NFL history to win a unanimous MVP. Seven years later, he led the league in passing yards during his age 40 season and came eight points short of another title. Many of the awards on this list required a lot of thinking and comparison, but this one was far too easy.

Runner-Up: Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

Offensive Player of the Decade: Julio Jones, WR, Atlanta Falcons

This award could’ve gone to Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees, but I decided to keep quarterbacks out of this one. Jones has the distinction of being the only player in NFL history to record five straight seasons with 1,400+ receiving yards. This year, he fell just six yards short of extending the record to six years. It’s a streak of dominance that the league has never seen before. Jones best season came in 2015 when he totaled 1,871 receiving yards (second-most all-time) on a league-leading (tied with Antonio Brown) 136 receptions. Besides his rookie season and a 2013 season where he only played in five games, Jones has fallen under 1,200 yards just once, and even then he was just two yards short of the mark. With a ridiculous 96.2 career receiving yards per game, Jones is the only player in league history to even break the 88 mark.

Runner-Up: Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Defensive Player of the Decade: J.J. Watt, DL, Houston Texans

Nobody knows what Watt could’ve accomplished if it wasn’t for injuries taking away so many games from him. After maybe the most dominant start to a career the NFL has ever seen, Watt has only been able to suit up for 32 games over the past four regular seasons. Even then, he still takes the cake for Defensive Player of the Year Decade. In the four-season span from 2012-2015, Watt collected three DPOY awards and in the process became the only player in NFL history to record multiple 20-sack seasons. In 2014, he was named an All-Pro at two different positions. After losing basically the entirety of the 2016 and ‘17 seasons to injury, Watt returned in ‘18 and picked up right where he left off. He played all 16 games and was second in the league in sacks with 16. Taking out his rookie season, Watt averages a ridiculous 17 sacks per healthy season.

Runner-Up: Aaron Donald, DT, St.Louis/Los Angeles Rams

Coach of the Decade: Bill Belichick, New England Patriots

Runner-Up: Andy Reid, PHI/KC

Team of the Decade: New England Patriots

Runner-Up: Seattle Seahawks

I grouped these together because their accomplishments go hand-in-hand. During the 2010s, the Patriots averaged 12.5 wins per season and secured a first-round bye every season but this last one. They made it to the AFC Championship every year from 2011 -2018 (2019 TBD), winning five of them. They won three of the five Super Bowls they appeared in, never losing by more than one score in their two losses. They won their division every single year. Throughout the decade, no team was more inevitable than the New England Patriots, and Bill Belichick was one of the few constants during that time period.

-By: Micah Jimoh

Writer/Interviewer