Who are the winners of the 2018 AFC South Awards?
In 2018, no division accumulated more wins than the AFC South (35). Furthermore, no division featured better comeback stories. After a torn ACL abruptly ended his historic rookie campaign, Deshaun Watson led the Houston Texans from an 0-3 start to a division title. After spending the last three years with every part of his body […]
In 2018, no division accumulated more wins than the AFC South (35).
Furthermore, no division featured better comeback stories. After a torn ACL abruptly ended his historic rookie campaign, Deshaun Watson led the Houston Texans from an 0-3 start to a division title. After spending the last three years with every part of his body injured, Andrew Luck navigated the Colts to a playoff birth after a 1-5 start.
Although the Titans and Jaguars missed the playoffs, both provided plenty of entertainment. Tennessee faced Indianapolis in the regular season finale for the right to play in the postseason, and after a 3-1 start, the brash Jaguars collapsed to the bottom of the division after finishing one victory short of a Super Bowl appearance in 2017.
All the twists and turns that transpired throughout the course of the past 17 weeks made the 2018 season a truly special season for the division. With the season over, it's time to highlight the best of what the division had to offer.
Without further ado, here are the 2018 AFC South awards.
AFC South MVP: Indianapolis QB Andrew Luck
No. 2: Houston QB Deshaun Watson
No. 3: Houston DL JJ Watt
Ultimately, this was a simple selection.
Andrew Luck is the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year. From 2015 until the beginning of this season, basically every part of Luck's body had been injured, including his kidneys. As a result, he missed nine games in 2015 and the entire 2017 season.
Initially, it wasn't smooth sailing for Luck and the Colts. While Indianapolis kept losing games it probably should've won, questions over Luck's health still lingered. After six games and with the Colts at 1-5, the seventh-year quarterback was only averaging 6.1 adjusted yards per attempt and under 10 yards per completion. Then, there was that infamous moment against Philadelphia where backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw the game-ending Hail Mary attempt as opposed to the former No. 1 overall pick.
This begged the question — Was Luck's shoulder okay?
Clearly, it was just getting warmed up.
Over the final 10 games, Luck led Indianapolis to a 9-1 record, making them only the second team in NFL history to start 1-5 and still make the playoffs. Over that span, Luck completed a nice 69 percent of his passes, threw 23 touchdowns, averaged 8.4 adjusted yards per attempts, and orchestrated a pair of season-saving, game-winning drives.
In total, he set a career high in completion percentage (67 percent), threw for nearly 4,600 yards, and posted 39 touchdown passes.
Not too shabby for a quarterback whose career was in jeopardy only one year ago.
AFC South Offensive Player of the Year: Houston WR DeAndre Hopkins
No. 2: Indianapolis WR TY Hilton
No. 3:Indianapolis TE Eric Ebron
I excluded quarterbacks from this award because I wanted to show love to other positions.
The process was simplified by the Titans and Jaguars providing literally no player worthy of this award, but even if they had, they weren't catching DeAndre Hopkins.
For the first time in his career, Hopkins played with a competent quarterback, resulting in his best season. He's making his normal acrobatic, one-handed catches that drop our jaws, but doing so in a much more efficient manner.
This season, Hopkins posted career highs in receptions (115), receiving yards (1,572, good for 2nd in the league), and catch percentage (70.6 percent).
How could those numbers get even more impressive? I'll leave you this:
AFC South Defensive Player of the Year: Houston DL JJ Watt
No. 2: Tennessee S Kevin Byard
No. 3: Jacksonville DL Calais Campbell
Breaking News: When JJ Watt is healthy, he's a game changer.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year won't win the award for the fourth time, but he at least made a case after battling multiple injuries over the past two seasons.
This year, Watt recorded 61 tackles, 16 sacks, a league-leading seven forced fumbles, 18 tackles for loss, and 25 quarterback hits.
In his last five full seasons, Watt has a staggering 85 sacks.
AFC South Offensive Rookie of the Year: Indianapolis OL Quenton Nelson
To be frank, there was zero competition for this award.
Although it wasn't a landmark year for offensive rookies in the AFC South, Quenton Nelson proved to be a landmark selection for Indianapolis.
The Notre Dame product was labeled a "sure-fire" pick, which is exactly why the Colts snagged him at No. 6 overall. His physicality has helped trigger an offensive line Renaissance in Indianapolis, which was needed for obvious reasons.
AFC South Defensive Rookie of the Year: Indianapolis LB Darius Leonard
Similar to Nelson, Leonard faced little competition for this award.
The rookie out of South Carolina State led the NFL in tackles by a whopping 19 despite missing a game. He earned the nickname "The Maniac" because that's exactly how he plays. The film that, and so do the box score numbers — Leonard has a 19-tackle performance and a 17-tackle performance under his belt.
However, Leonard is more than a tackle artist. He also finished with a pair of interceptions, four forced fumbles, seven sacks, and 12 tackles for loss.
AFC South Performance of the Year: Derrick Henry vs Jaguars (Week 14)
No. 2: Deshaun Watson vs Dolphins
No. 3: Andrew Luck vs Titans (Week 11)
No. 4: Darius Leonard vs Redskins
Up until his historic performance against the Jaguars, Henry was having the most disappointing season of his career.
Through a dozen games, he wasn't living up to his Heisman hype, rushing for 470 yards on a measly 3.7 yards per carry.
That all changed on Thursday Night Football against Jacksonville. Henry displayed his devastating combo of wrecking ball and home-run hitter. On 17 carries, he rushed for 238 yards (that's 14 yards per carry) and four touchdowns, including a 99-yard thriller.
Speaking of which…
AFC South Play of the Year: Derrick Henry's 99-yard touchdown run
No. 2: Justin Reid's 101-yard pick-6
No. 3: Andrew Luck's escape and throw in the clutch against Miami
Anytime a 99-yard touchdown run happens, it's likely going to win some sort of Player of the Year award.
AFC South Coach of the Year: Indianapolis HC Frank Reich
No. 2: Houston HC Bill O'Brien
No. 3: Tennessee HC Mike Vrabel
At the end of September, Tennessee's Mike Vrabel was the league front-runner for Head Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, Frank Reich and Bill O'Brien were searching for answers on 1-3 teams.
Obviously, a lot has changed in September. That's how the NFL works. A handful of teams get off to hot starts, only for them to be humbled by an unforgiving league.
The Titans didn't bow out — they were one win away from the playoffs — but this award belongs to Frank Reich.
From top to bottom, the Colts have the division's thinnest roster. This season wasn't supposed to be a playoff season.
Yet, here we are.
Props to Bill O'Brien for leading Houston to an 11-5 record after an 0-3 start, but no turnaround was as unexpected as Indianapolis'.
