It’ll take some doing down the stretch for any member of the Minnesota Vikings to take home a trophy from the NFL Honors ceremony.
The Minnesota Vikings have been one of the big surprises of this 2024 NFL season. Projected by most pundits to win six or seven games all year, the Vikes got off to a sizzling start, winning their first five.
They took back-to-back losses coming out of their bye to the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams but have since won three straight and take an 8-2 record into their Week 12 matchup with the Chicago Bears.
The beauty of this surprising start is the overall balance of this team. Some weeks, it’s the offense leading the way. In others, especially as of late, it’s been Brian Flores’ defense taking charge.
But today’s discussion isn’t about the all-around team effort. Instead, we’re here to discuss the Vikings who have a shot at some of the hardware handed out at the annual NFL Honors ceremony in February.
In the early weeks of the season, Sam Darnold, who won NFC Offensive Player of the Month in September, was right in the thick of things in the NFL MVP race. But given some of his recent struggles with turnovers, that’s no longer a thing.
Once among the top five betting favorites, Darnold now sits behind 11 other quarterbacks at +3000. He’s actually in a better position at this point to win Comeback Player of the Year, currently owning the seventh-shortest odds at +2500. But that’s a long shot as well, as CPOY will likely go to either former Minnesota QB Kirk Cousins (+150) or Cincinnati Bengals signal-caller Joe Burrow (+160).
The Vikings had another top-five candidate in an NFL Honors race early in the year, as first-round pick Dallas Turner came into his first professional season as one of the favorites to win Defensive Rookie of the Year.
But with just eight tackles and one sack in nine games, Turner has fallen out of the top 20, sitting tied for 21st with +5000 odds.
So, that’s not happening. And as Minnesota doesn’t have a viable candidate, Offensive Rookie of the Year isn’t even an option.
The Vikings do, however, have outside shots at the three awards we haven’t yet mentioned: Coach of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year.
Kevin O’Connell has the third-shortest odds to win NFL Coach of the Year
Given the Vikings’ success this season, it’s not a surprise to see Kevin O’Connell among the favorites for NFL Coach of the Year.
A sixth-place finisher in the COY voting in his first year in Minnesota in 2022, O’Connell currently has the third-shortest odds to win the award at +400, trailing only Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dan Campbell of the NFC North-leading Lions.
Justin Jefferson sits in fifth in the NFL Offensive Player of the Year race
It’s also no surprise to see superstar wideout Justin Jefferson among the favorites for NFL Offensive Player of the Year. That said, however, he’s still got a lot of ground to make up.
Already a one-time winner of the OPOY award for his 128-catch, 1,809-yard campaign in 2022, the three-time Pro Bowler currently owns the fifth-shortest odds at +1800. But that’s well back of the leader at this point, that being Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, who sits at +105.
Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry isn’t far behind at +140, and Jefferson also trails former LSU teammate Ja’Marr Chase (+500), who’s also the only player Jefferson trails in receiving yardage this season.
Also sitting ahead of Jefferson is reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson (+1400), who’s also very much in the thick of this year’s MVP race with Josh Allen and would become the first quarterback since Patrick Mahomes to win OPOY if he comes out on top here.
Andrew Van Ginkel is being disrespected in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year conversation
While it’s almost a foregone conclusion that Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt will win his second NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award.
But the disrespect being shown to Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel is laughable.
With a pair of sacks this past Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, upping his total to a career-high 8.0, Van Ginkel became just the fourth player in NFL history to record at least 8.0 sacks and at least two pick-sixes in the same season. In addition, the former Dolphin also leads the league in tackles for loss with 13 and has recorded a dozen QB hits, three passes defended, and a forced fumble.
Getting back to the sack department, Van Ginkel’s 8.0 put him in a tie for the fifth-most in the league, while Watt is tied for seventh with 7.5. It’s also worth noting that Van Ginkel has 46 total tackles on the year, while Watt is 10 back with 36.
Look, we’re not saying that Watt doesn’t deserve to be a frontrunner here. And he certainly is that with -205 odds to win DPOY. We’re just saying that Van Ginkel doesn’t deserve to have +5000 odds at this point. And there certainly shouldn’t be 15 other players with shorter odds than he has right now.