As you may know, we announce a variety of PFT award winners at the end of each regular season.
Offensive and defensive rookies of the year. Offensive and defensive players of the year. Comeback player of the year. Coach of the year. Executive of the year. MVP.
Typically, the awards carry nothing other than satisfaction. There’s no trophy. No plaque. No dinner. Nothing.
That changed after the 2021 season. I congratulated Titans coach Mike Vrabel on being named the PFT coach of the year. His response?
“If there any sort of prize?”
“A canned ham,” I joked.
Vrabel said he loves a good Honeybaked Ham. So we sent him one.
And a tradition was born. The PFT coach of the year gets a Honeybaked Ham.
This year, Giants coach Brian Daboll won the prize. Given his fondness for cigars, I gave him a choice: ham or stogies. He chose the cigars.
More expensive than the ham? Yes. But it’s OK. It’s a write-off. And we like the idea of attaching something tangible to the recognition.
I suppose I should have left it at that.
Lasy week in Phoenix, we had 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey on PFT Live. McCaffrey was PFT’s comeback player of the year. I told him about our new tradition. I asked him what he wanted. He said he’d like a good putter.
Later this week, he’ll be getting a Scotty Cameron Special Select Newport 2. (Which apparently is better than the Billy Baroo.)
The next day, we had Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson on the show. He’s the PFT offensive player of the year. I reluctantly told him about our new prize thing. He said he wants a gaming PC.
Yesterday, I inquired through his agency whether he was kidding. The response? He’s “dead serious.”
So JJ is getting his gaming PC. Which, as I’ve learned, costs a little more than a Honeybaked Ham.
And that’s fine. I wrote the check last week in Phoenix. We’re happy to honor it this week.
The only question now is what to do with about the other award winners for 2022 -- Sauce Gardner, Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa, Howie Roseman, and Patrick Mahomes.
I guess I’ll find out. And I guess we’ll have to come up with some guidelines for next year. Or just commission a nice trophy.
