The 2020 FindBet NFL Awards
Mar 07 | 2021
While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have come away with the Lombardi, there was so much greatness displayed in 2020, we believe the players with the flyest kicks, the smoothest flow and the craftiest Twitter fingers deserve shout-outs as well.
So to honor the 2020 NFL season, the FindBet staff came together to develop, nominate and elect the biggest winners from the NFL season in twelve distinct categories.
Categories
People’s Champion: Deshaun Watson, Larry Fitzgerald, Ryan Fitzpatrick
There are some men who transcend fanning the flames of rivalry, enjoying an elite status known to few athletes: a player who is beloved by every fan. We believe that Larry Fitzgerald, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Deshaun Watson are fan faves not just in their cities, but in all the NFL kingdom, which is what makes them champions of the people.
Winner: Deshaun Watson
Despite covering the Seahawks and Raiders respectively, Aryanna and Ashmere have professed their admiration for Watson’s talent and tenacity time and time again on Findbet broadcasts.
The rest of the staff agrees: for a historic campaign as the best losing quarterback we’ve ever seen, Deshaun Watson is a fantastic guy with a can-do attitude that brought this team to the playoffs before and is sure to do it again, no matter who it’s with.
Best Kick Game: Jarvis Landry “Black Panther”, Adam Thielen “Alex Trebek”, Alvin Kamara Christmas, Cam Jordan “Merry New Year”
Whether it’s a charitable #MyCauseMyCleats design, a festive yuletide treat, or a tribute to a fallen hero, NFL players love lacing up fancy cleats to the beat of their own drum. The kick game offers a place for player creativity to shine on-field, making this category rather competitive amongst meticulous, fashionable athletes.
Winner: Jarvis Landry “Black Panther”
The swift, relentless losses felt in 2020 echoed throughout the NFL all season.
While Kobe & Gianna’s’ deaths shocked and shook us to our cores, there was another cultural icon lost last year: Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman.
That’s why this year’s winner of Best Cleats goes to Jarvis Landry’s touching tribute to Boseman. The high-quality artwork captured the real-life Black superhero who inspired a generation.
Best Flow: Cam Newton, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jamie Gillan
Aura, swag, flow—whatever you call it, some players possess a certain je ne sais quoi that amplifies their confidence. Whether it’s Cam’s riveting red carpet look or that iconic outfit that defined an era of Fitzmagic, here are three guys who’ve got a flow that swept up the league this year.
Winner: Jamie Gillan
While Fitz and Cam are well-known for their off-field flow, Browns punter Jamie Gillan was our dark horse because he deserves to be known for those luscious locks.
What adds to Gillan’s coolness is the fact that the native Scotsman and former rugby player is known as “The Scottish Hammer,” reinvigorating the allure of athlete nicknames.
While punters often remain unknown, Gillan’s Braveheart vibes didn’t go unnoticed.
The Golden Thumbs: Quandre Diggs, Stefon Diggs, Tom Brady
Everyone’s got a Twitter these days, but some do it better than others. From Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs speaking his truth or Tom Brady making self-deprecating memes, the Twittersphere had a lot of gold to work with in this category, allowing us to forge a crown worthy of any Twitter king.
Winner: Tom Brady
TB12 is the GOAT squared: the Greatest Of All Time is also The Greatest Of All Twitter.
To be fair, Tom doesn’t exactly run his own Twitter: the branding king has an entire creative team develop content for him.
It’s actually pretty cool: Shadow Lion was founded in 2017 to support Tom Brady’s off-field media efforts. Since then, they’ve built an impressive NFL clientele, including Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Ramsey and others.
So if you see Tom’s perfectly-manicured content, now you know who’s behind it, and why everyone is jumping on the Brady social bandwagon.
Baby Yoda Award: Justin Herbert, Justin Jefferson, Chase Young
The Yoda/Baby Yoda Super Bowl meme created a perfect analogy to the rookie stunners in the league: learning how to wield “The Force”, these young twentysomethings broke league records and changed their franchises for the better. For that, we honor them with the Baby Yoda moniker.
Winner: Justin Jefferson
While Chase Young and Justin Herbert were visibly recognized for their spectacular rookie campaigns, we believed that record-holder Justin Jefferson deserved our Baby Yoda award for becoming the closest thing the Vikings have had to Randy Moss since… Randy Moss.
His inaugural 1,400-yard season set the record for most yards in a rookie season, meaning Jefferson has made history months after setting foot in US Bank Stadium.
As OG Yoda might say, “From this one, great things we expect.”
Best TD Celly: Aaron Rodgers “Key & Peele”, Colts “Soul Train”, Melvin Gordon “Drumline”, Kirk Cousins “Griddy”
You don’t have to be a football fan to appreciate the beauty of the touchdown dance. While choreographed team-centric celebrations have taken the league by storm, so have dance trends like The Griddy. Whatever the celebration, it’s clear that these nominees could easily grace Dancing With The Stars like Von and Antonio did.
Still proud that The Griddy originated in @aryannaprasad’s home state of Louisiana, and still laughing at Kirk Cous… https://t.co/2wA1LmYFc3— FindBet.com (@FindBet.com) 1615071760.0
Winner: Kirk Cousins “Griddy”
This was our most disputed category this year—it’s hard to pick a favorite amongst the hand sanitizing, the Soul Trains, and the Key & Peele double-pump. Here’s a hint as to who won: our Baby Yoda was a part of it!This year’s Best TD Celly had to go to the biggest trend sweeping NFL locker rooms, all the way from a New Orleans high school: this year was the year of the Gritty. The Gritty traveled from New Orleans to LSU all the way up to Minnesota, where Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and Kirk Cousins had their own iterations. While Southerners did it best, Cousins had the most memorable when he tried—and failed—to get off his Gritty.
Butt Fumble Lifetime Achievement Award: Daniel Jones, Todd Gurley
Getting posterized isn’t just in basketball—there are plenty of embarrassing moments that live in infamy amongst NFL fans (just as Mark “Butt Fumble” Sanchez). A few images that stuck with us this season include Todd Gurley’s accidental roll into the endzone, eventually resulting in another Falcons loss, and Daniel Jones’ self-induced trip that reminds us he is truly Eli’s successor.
Winner: Todd Gurley
It’s hard to follow up Mark Sanchez’ iconic blunder, but the Falcons have had their fair share of Butt Fumble moments since, ironically, the best offensive season we’ve ever seen.
In their Week 7 matchup against the Detroit Lions, the Falcons were in the red zone with 1:04 minutes to spare. All they had to do was run down the clock, kick a field goal, and the game was over.
But then Todd Gurley accidentally scored a touchdown. Oops. With one minute left, a criminally underrated Matt Stafford answered with a touchdown of their own, giving this win to the Lions and another shameful moment in Falcons history.
Best Beef: Vrabel vs. Harbaugh, Tate vs. Ramsey
A gritty battle of brawn, sometimes the heat between NFL enemies escalates from chippy shoulder shoves to a full-out brawl. Whether it’s coaches screaming about logos or players fighting over family honor, the contenders for Best Beef was the stuff of reality tv legend.
Winner: Golden Tate & Jalen Ramsey, Week 4
What’s beef?
Beef is when helmets clash in the streets
Beef is when flying fists start to meet
Beef is when I see you
Guaranteed to be in I-C-U
The lyrics may be modified, but Biggie’s classic “Life After Death” diss track explains it perfectly: beef is when the feud follows you wherever you go.
That’s exactly what happened to the winners of this year’s Best Beef, Golden Tate and Jalen Ramsey. Their fisticuffs dust-up during—and after—a Week 4 matchup between the Rams and the Giants was a family affair, but not in the way you might expect.
You see, Ramsey used to date Tate’s younger sister, Breanna. But when Breanna became pregnant with Ramsey’s child, he left her high and dry… right in the middle of her pregnancy.
Golden didn’t take kindly to that, so when he had the chance to pummel Ramsey, he did.
The two might win Best Beef, but Aryanna thinks Golden deserves a Brother Of The Year award as well. And while we’re at it, maybe we’ll give Ramsey Worst Boyfriend Of The Century.
Big Man On Campus (BMOC) Award: Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen
In the Merriam Webster dictionary, a “big man on campus” is defined as an old-fashioned way of describing “an important and well-known person, especially at a school.” The example sentence illustrates why our three BMOC, or MVP, nominees are QBs: “The quarterback of the football team is a real big man on campus.” Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen all stunned the league in different ways this year, illustrating that they were truly Big MOCs in the NFL game.
Winner: Aaron Rodgers
Another MVP season, a whirlwind romance with Shailene Woodley: it seems like Aaron Rodgers definitely had a better 2020 than the rest of us.
But strictly speaking football, the esteemed Packers QB had the most consistently great quarterback season in the league. Building a rapport with Adams and bringing his team to a dominant 13-3, Rodgers stunned us once more with deep aerial shots launched from a cannon of an arm. Sorry Mahomes and Allen—this pasture of GOATs isn’t quite finished grazing the field yet.
Excellence In Breakdowns: Falcons/Cowboys game, Raiders loss to Dolphins, Chargers for 4 straight losses
If there’s anything you don’t want to excel in as a professional athlete, it’s losing. And while everyone eventually loses (we still haven’t seen an undefeated SuperBowl team!), some teams are better at blowing a lead than others. From the notorious Falcons franchise to four straight losses for the still-cursed Chargers, here are a few teams that are frustratingly excellent at letting go in crunch time.
Winner: Atlanta Falcons vs. Dallas Cowboys, Week 2
Ever since that blown 28-3 Super Bowl, the Falcons have perfected the art of blowing the lead.
While there were some excellent contenders this year, the Falcons’ 39-40 loss to the Cowboys in Week 2 won out as most dysfunctional.
To put it in perspective, the Falcons ended the first quarter with a 20-point lead. Yeah, it was that bad of a breakdown.
Fantasy MVP Award: Dalvin Cook, Derrick Henry, Davante Adams
While football is a team sport, it’s important to acknowledge the individual successes of remarkable players who had record numbers—especially when they played for your fantasy football team. From Derrick Henry’s 2,000-yard season to a Davante Adams/Aaron Rodgers rapport that Rodgers believes merits a HOF nod, here are the MVP candidates of your fantasy football league.
Winner: Davante Adams
Alongside the BMOC is a guy you either hate because you didn’t have him or love because you did: it’s fantasy football destroyer Davante Adams.
If fantasy was a game of Battleship, Adams would find all of your opponents and blow up their spot with his unrivaled receiving stats. With 115 catches for over 1,300 yards and 18 touchdowns, Adams either saved or sank your season, and he certainly helped Rodgers reach the NFC Championship.
Mr. Miagi Award: Kevin Stefanski, Sean McDermott, Brian Flores
A ubiquitous pop culture reference, any “Mr. Miagi” is a wise teacher that guides an underdog to powerful victory. For the Browns, Bills and Dolphins, they have recent head coaches to thank for markedly increased success in recent years, making Stefanski, McDermott and Flores all likely candidates as the NFL’s latest Mr. Miagi.
Winner: Sean McDermott
Sean McDermott brought one of the NFL’s biggest underdogs all the way to the AFC Championship in just 3 years. That alone deserves a trophy, but it’s been a steady ascent for the Bills since McDermott joined them in 2017.
The way that McDermott has been able to build a threatening pass attack with Josh Allen, Stephon Diggs and an underrated Cole Beasley is difficult to put into words, but the cheers from Bill’s Mafia this offseason captured it perfectly: finally, a 25-year drought has been put to rest.
That’s all we have for this year’s awards, but we’d like to thank you for sharing your NFL season with us at Findbet—it’s truly been an honor.
Be sure to tune into our awards broadcast as well as our Awards Show Afterparty live on Saturday, March 6th at 7pm EST on Findbet and Popdust channels.
