Nov 13, 2026 - 06:11
By espn.com

2026 NFL midseason awards: MVP, top rookies and best coaches - ESPN

It's midseason awards time. I'm here to hand out my ballot for the first half of the 2026 NFL season. And in a year that has felt dominated by parity and very few players or teams separating from the pack, it wasn't easy to pick favorites. There are multiple legitimate contenders to win every single award through nine weeks, running all the way from Most Valuable Player (where I counted six players who had a legitimate argument) to Comeback Player of the Year (where three future Hall of Famers came back from season-ending injuries and immediately looked like their old selves).

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As always, these are my picks for who I feel should win each of these awards after the first half of the season as opposed to predictions for who the voters are likely to actually select by the end of the year. I place a priority on availability, so players who have sat out more than a game or so because of injury will find it difficult to compete with players who have answered the call each and every weekend. And naturally, I'm using healthy amounts of data and what I've seen watching All-22 film every week to inform my choices here.

Let's begin with the rookies and others before wrapping up with my MVP rankings and my midseason All-Pro team.

My top pick five weeks ago: Arvell Reese

After the offense-heavy draft classes in 2024 and 2025, this has been a very fun crop of defensive rookies, driven by the players at the very top. There were no sure things, but we're seeing a lot of players who had questions about their fit in a defense or as every-down options thrive. The 49ers'