Fans claim the NFL has a quarterback bias after Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua lost the Offensive Rookie of the Year award to Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.
NFL Honors, an annual award show held to celebrate the best players from the regular season, took place on Feb. 8. At the event, Lamar Jackson won his second NFL MVP trophy, while Myles Garrett, a fellow AFC North foe, took home Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Fresh off the couch, Joe Flacco won Comeback Player of the Year for his performance as the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback down the stretch. His head coach with the Browns, Kevin Stefanski, was awarded Coach of the Year.
Social media seemingly agreed with most of the winners, but one in particular caused severe backlash online — Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Fans say Puka Nacua got robbed at NFL Honors
Los Angeles Rams first-year star Puka Nacua burst onto the scene early as a rookie. He set the NFL record for most passes caught in year one (105) and accumulated the most receiving yards by a rookie (1,486) in league history.
Nacua broke out into the mainstream with the help of fantasy football, as diehard and casual fans benefitted from selecting the little-known Rams pass catcher in their drafts before the regular season.
A historic rookie season by one of the greatest rookie WRs in NFL history:-Broke the rookie receptions record-Broke the rookie receiving yards recordPuka Nacua is your 2023 Fantasy Rookie of the Year!📺: #NFLHonors on CBS & NFLN – 9pm ET📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/HKSS33dZEA
— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) February 8, 2024
However, even through Nacua’s stellar showing, the BYU product finished second behind Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.
To Stroud’s credit, he had a remarkable debut campaign himself. He eclipsed 4,000 passing yards while recording 23 passing touchdowns and five interceptions en route to lifting the lowly Texans back into the postseason.
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Rams fans still believe Nacua deserved the award after setting multiple rookie records that previously stood for decades. To them, it’s less about Stroud not being deserving and more about individual awards skewing toward quarterbacks year in and year out.
Essentially, last night, NFL voters said "If you don't play QB, nothing you do matters." What more did Puka Nacua need to do to win Offensive Rookie of the Year? Win the rookie triple crown? Well, we already said that wasn't good enough when Kupp didn't win MVP in 2021.
— Blaine Grisak 💭 (@bgrisakTST) February 9, 2024
A quarterback has won NFL MVP in 11 straight seasons, while the position has taken home Offensive Rookie of the Year in three of the past five seasons. Is there actually some merit to the NFL having a quarterback bias?
Over the past decade, the MVP award has undoubtedly been geared toward elite signal-callers. Adrian Peterson is the last non-quarterback to win and the only one at all since 2006.
The issue with Offensive Rookie of the Year winners is less glaring on the surface. Quarterbacks have won more often, but running backs and wide receivers still win their fair share in this category.
In a year with two deserving winners, one of them was bound to be disappointed. This time, Nacua drew the short stick, leaving Rams fans to defend their new superstar whenever the debate surfaces this offseason.
Fans aren’t wrong about a quarterback bias in general in the NFL. But after Stroud’s performance in 2023, coupled with a track record of skill position players winning OROY, it might be a stretch to say Nacua got robbed.