2025 NFL Honors: Who won the league's biggest awards?

Before the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles meet at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, FOX), the best of the NFL gathered at the nearby Saenger Theatre for Thursday's NFL Honors.

Upcoming awards include: Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year.

Here's a look at who took home the awards and why:

Defensive Player of the Year

Pat Surtain II | CB | Denver Broncos

Whether it was simply the eye test or a swirl of analytics, take your pick, by any measure Surtain was ridiculously good all season. He matched up on a who's-who of receivers and Ja'Marr Chase's three receptions for 27 yards (on 43 routes against Surtain) or DK Metcalf's three catches for 29 yards (on 24 routes) were the best anyone did.

Surtain, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, surrendered the fewest receiving yards for the season (306) of anyone at his position ( a minimum of 375 coverage snaps), allowed the second-lowest passer rating when targerted and had the lowest EPA/target (-0.43). He tied his career high in interceptions (four) and led the league in interception return yards (132). As defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said "Pat is at the center of everything we do ... he gives us a chance a lot of defenses don't have, we can dictate some things just by where we line him up.''

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Jayden Daniels | QB | Washington Commanders

Jayden Daniels set one record after another -- from early in the season until late.

He became only the sixth rookie quarterback to lead his team to a championship game -- the previous five all played with defenses ranked in the top three; Washington was 18th. He rushed for more yards (891) than any other rookie quarterback in history -- and combined that with 3,568 passing yards. He was the NFL's fourth-ranked passer in total QBR and threw for 25 touchdowns (15 coming in his last five full games) with only nine picks and he ran for six scores. Daniels led five game-winning drives, including one in the playoffs; three ended with touchdown passes. And he threw more touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and overtime (12) than any rookie in history.

In September, he became the first quarterback in NFL history to complete at least 85 percent of his throws in consecutive games.

Assistant Coach of the Year

Ben Johnson | Detroit Lions | Offensive Coordinator

Johnson, who is now the head coach of the Chicago Bears was a big part of the Lions' record-setting season in 2024, in which they won a franchise-best 15 games while earning the NFC's No. 1 seed and second consecutive NFC North title.

Johnson is widely respected by his players for his offensive brilliance and creative play calling. Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams was impressed with Johnson's knowledge of the game.

"I talk to him a lot on the side when we're not on offense. He just breaks down some things to me and some things I never knew playing the game," Williams said. "But it's different. It's kind of different. He played the game, but some people have a passion for coaching and once they get a feel for the game, and understand the game very well, it becomes easy. You know what to call for a certain defense. It's kind of like playing Madden."