NFL Honors 2026 Winners: Who Won NFL MVP, Rookie of the Year, Walter Payton Man of the Year, and the Full Awards List

The NFL handed out its biggest individual awards for the 2025 season at NFL Honors on Thursday, February 5, 2026, with the league’s MVP revealed in prime time ahead of Super Bowl weekend. If you’re searching “who is the MVP of the NFL this year” or “who won MVP NFL 2026,” the headline result is clear: Matthew Stafford won NFL MVP.

Below is the complete, fan-friendly breakdown of the major NFL Honors 2026 winners, plus how and when the announcements happened in Eastern Time.

Who won NFL MVP 2026 and when was MVP announced?

NFL MVP (for the 2025 season): Matthew Stafford

The MVP was announced at NFL Honors on February 5, 2026, at 9:00 p.m. ET. That ceremony is where the league’s marquee awards are revealed each year, rather than on Super Bowl Sunday itself.

Important context: people often say “NFL MVP 2026,” but the award is for the 2025 regular season, presented in early 2026.

NFL Honors 2026 winners list: MVP, Coach, Players, and Rookies

Here are the major award winners from NFL Honors 2026:

• Most Valuable Player: Matthew Stafford

• Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel

• Offensive Player of the Year: Jaxon Smith-Njigba

• Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett

• Comeback Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey

• Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tetairoa McMillan

• Defensive Rookie of the Year: Carson Schwesinger

• Walter Payton Man of the Year: Bobby Wagner

• Assistant Coach of the Year: Josh McDaniels

• Protector award (top offensive lineman honor): Joe Thuney

• Next Gen moment award: Caleb Williams to DJ Moore walk-off touchdown in Week 16 vs. Green Bay

• Jim Brown rushing award: James Cook

• Fan of the Year: Edward Callahan

If you were specifically searching “NFL rookie of the year” or “rookie of the year NFL 2026,” note that the league awards separate offensive and defensive rookie honors.

Walter Payton Man of the Year 2026: who won?

Walter Payton Man of the Year: Bobby Wagner

This award is the league’s top recognition for a player’s impact off the field, tied to community leadership and service, alongside excellence and leadership in their NFL career.

NFL Honors 2026 time, host, and what the show featured

• When: Thursday, February 5, 2026, 9:00 p.m. ET

• Host: Jon Hamm

• Where: Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco

The ceremony also included a prominent musical segment from the NFL Players Choir, which delivered a tribute honoring members of the football community who died in 2025. The red carpet drew a heavy celebrity presence as well, including high-profile NFL couples and guests.

Where to watch NFL Honors and how to watch it live

For “where to watch NFL Honors” and “what channel is NFL Honors on,” the most reliable way to think about it is this:

• NFL Honors airs on a national broadcast TV network and the league’s dedicated cable channel in the United States.

• It is also available via official streaming options tied to those same broadcasts, including the league’s own subscription streaming product in many markets.

Because availability can vary by location and device, the best practical plan is to check your live TV guide on game week and search within your TV or streaming app for “NFL Honors” shortly before 9:00 p.m. ET.

Behind the headline: why these 2026 NFL awards matter more than a trophy shelf

NFL Honors is as much about narrative power as it is about trophies. The awards reshape how players are remembered, how contracts are justified, and how teams sell the next season.

• Incentives: MVP and major awards can move endorsement value, leverage contract negotiations, and change how a season is framed in future Hall of Fame debates.

• Stakeholders: teams benefit from brand lift, agents benefit from bargaining power, and the league benefits from a clean, single-night spotlight that stretches attention beyond the Super Bowl itself.

• Missing pieces: awards don’t capture postseason performance, which is why fans often compare NFL MVP to Super Bowl MVP and argue about what “best” really means.

• Second-order effects: award recognition influences offseason roster decisions, coaching hires, and even how opponents game-plan (especially for players crowned as the best at their position group that year).

If you want, tell me whether you meant regular-season MVP (Stafford) or Super Bowl MVP (a separate award given on Super Bowl Sunday), and I’ll line up both answers cleanly with the exact dates and times in ET.