Cam Newton wins NFL Most Valuable Player award

Cam Newton’s spectacular season has earned him The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year award. He holds the National Football League record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season (14) and is tied with Steve Young as the all-time leader in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback as well as the most career games with both a passing and rushing touchdown.

The victory for Newton, the first Panther to win the award, was announced Saturday night during NFL Honors. As widely expected, Newton was also named the victor of the Most Valuable Player award.

The 26-year-old received the honor on Saturday night at the NFL Honors show. Standing down against relentless pressure, Newton consistently went through his reads and delivered bullet passes easily, hitting targets in places no defender could ever hope to cover. I don’t have time to tell you all, ‘Thank you.’ You know who you are. Newton posted a career-high 99.4 passer rating this season despite playing without top receiver, Kelvin Benjamin, who missed the entire season after tearing his ACL during training camp. Newton received 48 of 50 votes for the honor, with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer each getting one vote.

J.J. Watt, the All-Pro defensive end for the Houston Texans, was named Defensive Player of the Year. “I was a 2-star recruit… going into college, and now I have three Defensive Player of the Year trophies, so (take that) all you guys who doubted me”.

“After all this, it feels like a dream”, Berry said.

Defensive Rookie of the Year was cornerback Marcus Peters of the Kansas City Chiefs, while running back Todd Gurley of the Rams was named Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Broncos ranked first overall and against the pass, third versus the run.