Kevin O’Connell, Sam Darnold and Brian Flores named finalists for NFL Honors

Kevin O’Connell, Sam Darnold and Brian Flores could be heading to New Orleans, after all.

The Vikings head coach, quarterback and defensive coordinator were among the 40 finalists named Thursday for eight of the league’s most prestigious awards, which will be presented on Feb. 6 at the NFL Honors ceremony in New Orleans, site of Super Bowl LIX.

The awards are coordinated by the Associated Press and voted on by 50 members of the media from around the country, including this reporter. Ballots were turned in before the playoffs began.

O’Connell is considered a favorite for NFL Coach of the Year as he shocked the league by overcoming all outside expectations and winning 14 games with Darnold as his quarterback. But the competition is stiff with Detroit’s Dan Campbell, Denver’s Sean Payton, Washington’s Dan Quinn and Kansas City’s Andy Reid also finalists.

O’Connell was selected as NFL coach of the year by the Pro Football Writers of America on Thursday and was honored as NFC Coach of the Year by the 101 Awards on Wednesday.

Flores, who took five new starters and other key pieces and molded them into a top-five scoring defense, is considered a longer shot for NFL Assistant Coach of the Year.

He’s up against four other coordinators, two of whom have already been poached from Detroit as head coaches this week: offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, now head coach of the Bears, and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, now head coach of the Jets. The other two finalists are preparing for Sunday’s conference title games: Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, whose unit ranked second in scoring (30.9), and Eagles first-year defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who raised Philadelphia’s scoring defense from 30th (25.2) to second (17.8)

Darnold’s situation in the NFL Comeback Player of the Year race is the most intriguing and has caused great consternation among the voters and efforts by the Associated Press to provide guidance about the purpose of the award. The AP also made it clear to voters that they were free to vote their conscience.

The AP issued this sentence as guidance to voters: “The spirit of the award is to honor a player who has demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity by overcoming illness, physical injury or other circumstances that led him to miss playing time the previous season.”

This led many to assume Darnold was ineligible since he was neither injured as a 49ers backup in 2023 nor inactive for any of San Francisco’s games. He was not deemed ineligible as the AP left it up to the voters to interpret “other circumstances” on their own. The wording for the award could be changed as early as next year.

Some past winners of the award like Geno Smith had overcome nothing more than not being effective performers. The issue was exacerbated publicly last year, when Joe Flacco won the award by beating out Bills safety Damar Hamlin.

Flacco was 39 and out of football when he was signed as an emergency quarterback by the Browns. He started five games down the stretch, going 4-1 to lead Cleveland to the playoffs. He received 151 points and 13 first-place votes from the selection committee.

Hamlin’s heart stopped on a hit during a prime-time game in the 2022 season. He came back in 2023, playing 17 defensive snaps in five games. He received 21 first-place votes but only 140 points, 11 shy of Flacco.

Hamlin, who has started 16 games including the playoffs en route to Sunday’s AFC title game, is a finalist again this year.

Darnold’s first six years in the NFL defined him as a failed No. 3 overall pick of the Jets and a journeyman who had played for three teams and was heading to a fourth, Minnesota, on a one-year prove-it deal.

With O’Connell’s guidance, Darnold reached the playoffs for the first time while setting career highs for wins (14), completions (361), completion percentage (66.2), yards passing (4,319), touchdown passes (35) and passer rating (102.5). He had 13 games with passer ratings of 100 or more, one shy of the league record.

The other finalists are: Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who came back from an elbow injury to also be a finalist for MVP; Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins, who came back from a torn Achilles, and Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who came back from a torn labrum.

The Vikings have another potential winner for Feb. 6 in fullback C.J. Ham. Each team has a finalist for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which will be presented at the NFL Honors ceremony. Ham is this year’s Vikings finalist.