The 2025 NFL Honors will take place in New Orleans Thursday ahead of Super Bowl LIX, and three Bengals are up for Associated Press awards.
QB Joe Burrow is a finalist for three awards at the 2025 NFL Honors Thursday: AP Comeback Player of the Year, AP Offensive Player of the Year and AP Most Valuable Player. WR Ja’Marr Chase is also a finalist for Offensive Player of the Year, while DE Trey Hendrickson is a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
Here is why the Bengals trio could hear their names called Thursday night.
Burrow was one of the most dominant quarterbacks in the NFL this season. He led the NFL in passing yards (4,918) and passing touchdowns (43) in 2024, and he became the third quarterback in league history to have at least 4,500 passing yards, 40 passing touchdowns and fewer than 10 interceptions, joining Tom Brady in 2007 and Aaron Rodgers in 2011. Both Brady and Rodgers won MVP in those seasons.
The former first overall pick set an NFL record with eight straight games of at least 250 passing yards and at least three touchdown passes. He also became the second QB in league history to have multiple seasons completing at least 70% of his passes, joining Drew Brees. He tied Cincinnati legend Ken Anderson for the franchise record with his 70.6% completion percentage, and he broke his own franchise records for yards and touchdowns.
Burrow’s co-finalists for MVP are Eagles RB Saquon Barkley, Lions QB Jared Goff, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson and Bills QB Josh Allen. Goff finished second in the NFL in passing with 4,629 yards and had 37 touchdowns. Jackson had 4,172 yards through the air (sixth) and had 41 passing touchdowns, while Allen finished 14th in the NFL with 3,731 passing yards and added 28 touchdowns through the air.
Burrow is attempting to become the third Bengal to win MVP: Ken Anderson won in 1981, and Boomer Esiason joined the list in 1988. A quarterback has won MVP each of the last 11 years and 48 total times since it was first given to Cleveland RB Jim Brown in 1957.
The Bengals led the NFL in passing yards, passing yards per game and passing touchdowns in 2024. Pro Football Focus graded the Bengals as the best passing offense in the NFL with a 92.8-passing grade. PFF had Burrow tied with Allen for the league lead in big-time throws, each with 37.
Burrow achieved his best statistical season to date after coming back from a wrist injury that held out the back end of 2023. The other finalists for Comeback Player of the Year include Vikings QB Sam Darnold, Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins, Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez and Bills S Damar Hamlin. Dobbins returned from a torn Achilles to rush for 905 yards on just 195 carries last season. Gonzalez missed most of his rookie rookie with a shoulder injury but came back to be a shutdown corner for New England, while Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-win season in his first year as a full-time starter since 2021.
Burrow would join former Jets and Dolphins QB Chad Pennington as the only players to win Comeback Player of the Year in multiple seasons. Pennington won in 2006 with New York and 2008 with Miami, while Burrow won in 2021 after returning from a torn ACL and MCL in 2020 to lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl.
Chase put together one of the best receiving seasons in league history on his way to a unanimous AP First Team All-Pro selection.
He joined an exclusive club in 2024, becoming the sixth receiver in the Super Bowl era to lead the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in a single season to win the NFL Triple Crown. He joined Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharpe, Steve Smith Sr. and Cooper Kupp as the only receivers to accomplish the feat since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Chase because the youngest receiver of the Super Bowl Era to achieve the feat and is the youngest since Hall-of-Famer Don Hutson did it at 23 years old in 1936.
Chase finished the season with 127 receptions for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns. Not only did those pace the league, but he also set the franchise record for receptions and yards and tied the franchise record for touchdowns. He matched Carl Pickens’ 17 touchdowns from 1995. He had over 50 yards in 16 of 17 games and grabbed at least five receptions in 15 of 17 games. Chase decimated secondaries all season long: He tallied up 21 receptions for 457 yards and five touchdowns in two games against the Baltimore Ravens and added 177 yards and two scores on 14 receptions on Monday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys.
The LSU product is joined by Burrow, Jackson, Barkley and Ravens RB Derrick Henry as the other finalists for the award. Barkley led the NFL with 2,005 yards rushing, the eighth-most all time. Henry was second this season and 11th all time with 1,921 yards and had 16 touchdowns on the ground.
There have only been five receivers to win the award since it was first issued in 1972, but three of the last five winners have been wideouts: Vikings’ Justin Jefferson (2022), Rams’ Cooper Kupp (2021), Saints’ Michael Thomas (2019) and Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice (1993 and 1987).
Ken Anderson (1981) is the only Bengal to win OPOY.
Hendrickson was the 2024 NFL sack king, leading the league with 17.5 sacks. Hendrickson put an exclamation point on his dominant season with a 3.5-sack performance in Pittsburgh in Week 18. He became the first Bengal to lead the league in sacks since individual sacks first began being tracked in 1982.
The defensive end has been everything the Bengals could’ve hoped for since he signed with Cincinnati in 2021, leading the NFL in sacks during that span with 57. He now has back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons after tallying the same amount in 2023.
Hendrickson joins Eagles LB Zack Baun, Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II, Steelers LB T.J. Watt and Garrett as finalists for the award. Baun signed a one-year deal with Philadelphia and had a breakout season, tallying 151 tackles. Surtain II allowed just 132 yards through the air in 2024, picking off four passes and giving up only one touchdown. Garrett finished 3.5 sacks behind Hendrickson for the league lead, while Watt tallied 11.5 takedowns and forced a league-leading six fumbles.
