In nine months, some cheerful young player who was drafted in 2026 will be standing on the stage at the NFL Honors receiving the award for Rookie of the Year. In fact, two will -- offense and defense.
Immediately after last year's draft, I stacked my personal board for both awards, with the eventual winners falling to fourth (Tetairoa McMillan) and sixth (Carson Schwesinger) on my lists. I'm pretty happy with those outcomes for early May guesstimates, as we don't even have training camp depth charts or preseason injury news yet. Both awards follow fairly consistent bumper rails for voters, and as such, we can define favorites and (reasonable) sleepers from long distance.
Here are my way-too-early rankings for Rookies of the Year candidates, split by offense and defense. I'll go through the possibilities and then give my final list.
Jump to: OROY | DROY
Offensive Rookie of the Year
The favorites
Three skill position players left the board in the first four picks on Day 1: quarterback Fernando Mendoza (Raiders), running back Jeremiyah Love (Cardinals) and wide receiver Carnell Tate (Titans). These are the clear big favorites and the only three players I'll discuss up top here.
We're fresh off a season in which a receiver won Rookie of the Year, as Panthers' first-round wideout McMillan produced 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns in what was generally a down year for OROY options. Saints quarterback Tyler Shough finished behind McMillan in voting despite only nine starts, and had he played 17 games, the conversation would have been more interesting.
As a general rule, quarterbacks who start the majority of the season (and produce) win the award over spectacular seasons from non-quarterbacks. In 2023, Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud and Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua had excellent rookie seasons, but Nacua's campaign was legitimately record-setting, as his 105 receptions and 1,486 yards became new marks for rookie receivers. The yardage record had stood for 63 years before Nacua broke it!