NFL Honors 2026 winners: MVP, Coach, and top awards

NFL Honors, the league’s annual awards show, took place Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, from San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, with Jon Hamm hosting. The ceremony revealed the season’s biggest individual honors—including MVP, Coach of the Year, and the Walter Payton Man of the Year award—three days before the Super Bowl.

If you missed it live, the easiest way to follow now is to use the same outlets carrying Super Bowl week coverage: the main broadcast partner, the league’s cable channel, and their companion streaming options, which typically offer full replays and clips shortly after the show ends.

NFL Honors 2026: when it aired and what it is

NFL Honors is where the Associated Press awards are presented for the season (including MVP), alongside league-specific honors and special recognitions. The 2026 show honored the 2025 NFL season and was staged as a primetime event with red carpet arrivals, comedy segments, musical moments, and award presentations.

This year’s event leaned hard into entertainment value, highlighted by an opening performance from an NFL players choir before the host’s monologue and the night’s first awards.

NFL Honors 2026 time, channel, and where to watch

The live broadcast began at 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 5.

For viewers in the United States, the show was available in three common ways:

• Traditional TV: the primary broadcast network carrying Super Bowl week programming, plus the league’s cable channel

• Streaming: the broadcast partner’s streaming service and the league’s subscription streaming/app product

• On-demand: replay availability through the same TV and streaming ecosystems, depending on your subscription

From outside the U.S., access depends on regional rights. The simplest “from anywhere” approach is to check the local Super Bowl broadcast partner in your country and look for the awards show in its event hub or schedule for Super Bowl week.

NFL Honors 2026 winners: MVP, Coach, and top awards

The headliner was Matthew Stafford, who won AP NFL Most Valuable Player. The defensive hardware went to Myles Garrett, while Jaxon Smith-Njigba took home Offensive Player of the Year. Mike Vrabel won Coach of the Year, and Bobby Wagner received Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, the league’s top honor for impact off the field.

Here are the biggest winners from the night:

Rookie of the Year and the “next wave” spotlight

The rookie awards are often the most future-facing part of the night, and 2026 followed that script. Tetairoa McMillan won Offensive Rookie of the Year, while Carson Schwesinger took Defensive Rookie of the Year, giving fans a clean snapshot of which newcomers moved fastest from promise to production.

If you’re tracking the awards as a guide for offseason storylines, the rookie wins are especially useful because they tend to translate into:

• heavier year-two expectations,

• expanded roles,

• and, in some cases, early extension conversations down the line.

Red carpet moments: Jon Hamm, Olivia Culpo, and the players choir

Beyond the trophies, the show’s red carpet buzz and stagecraft drew plenty of attention. Olivia Culpo appeared alongside Christian McCaffrey, adding to the celebrity-heavy arrivals that have become a Super Bowl week staple.

Inside the venue, the NFL players choir was one of the first-night highlights—an unusual but crowd-pleasing touch that set the tone before the awards started rolling.

When is the NFL MVP announced, and what to remember

NFL MVP is announced at NFL Honors, not on Super Bowl Sunday. Voting is completed before the postseason ends, which is why the award reflects regular-season performance even though it’s revealed during Super Bowl week.

This year’s takeaway: the top awards reinforced a league-wide theme—premium quarterback play still sets the ceiling, but elite defense (and a rare running back resurgence via the comeback award) can still define the season’s biggest narratives.

Sources consulted: NFL; Associated Press; ESPN; Pro Football Reference