The Barkie Awards (NFL edition)
With the Academy Awards upon us once more, Yardbarker would like to honor the outstanding plays and players from the past NFL season. Please join us as we celebrate the first annual Barkie Awards.
Best Score: Chandler Jones ( Las Vegas Raiders) against New England
On the last play of a Week 15 game headed for overtime, New England’s Jakobi Meyers foolishly tried to keep a hectic play alive by tossing the ball back towards the line of scrimmage. Jones caught the ball and ran it in for the game winning score as time expired. Have a look:
Best Live-Action Short: Keisean Nixon ( Green Bay Packers)
Standing 5’ 10”, Nixon is slightly taller than the average American, but three inches shorter than the average NFL player. In his first year as a Packer, Nixon showed he’s not short on talent.
Against the Vikings in Week 17, Nixon returned a first quarter kickoff for a touchdown with a league high 105-yard run. The score gave Green Bay a 7-3 lead in what would be their last victory of the year.
Nixon didn’t assume full-time kickoff duties until November, but still led the league with 1,009 kick return yards in 2022.
Best Costume: Jackson DeVille (Jacksonville Mascot)
We hope he was comfortable because nobody else was:
Best NFL player in a supporting role: Travis Kelce (Kansas City Chiefs)
His brother may be ‘Fat Batman’ but there’s no better Robin in the NFL than Kansas City’s big tight end. For the first time in years, Chiefs fans worried how the offense would respond after the team traded Tyreek Hill to Miami.
Kelce responded with a career-high 12 touchdowns and a team-leading 1,338 yards on 110 catches. He even set a playoff record with 14 catches against Jacksonville. Patrick Mahomes needs Kelce and if he keeps this up, he might even get his own insurance commercial.
Best NFL player in a leading role: Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles)
For most of the 2022 season, Hurts was everything and everywhere for the Philadelphia Eagles. But when he went down with a shoulder injury against Chicago, the offense turned bad all at once.
Gardner Minshew’s subpar play in Weeks 16 and 17 proved just how important Hurts is to the team. His 3,701 yards and 35 touchdowns were both career-highs and he even outplayed Patrick Mahomes in a losing effort in Super Bowl LVII.
Had the Eagles won the game, Hurts would’ve won the MVP. For now, we hope he enjoys his Barkie.
More must-reads: