playBill BarnwellOct 8, 2026, 06:20 AM ETCloseBill Barnwell is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. He analyzes football on and off the field like no one else on the planet, writing about in-season X’s and O’s, offseason transactions and so much more. He is the host of the Bill Barnwell Show podcast, with episodes released weekly. Barnwell joined ESPN in 2011 as a staff writer at Grantland.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsCan you believe we’re already four games into the NFL season?
It still feels like we’re trying to figure out which teams have a real shot at competing for a Super Bowl. But today, I’m here to identify the players and coaches who have been at the top of their game in 2026. It’s time for my annual quarter-season awards, where I hand out hardware for the best performances from Weeks 1 through 4.Keep in mind that these are my picks — who I believe deserves each award through four games — as opposed to my prediction for who will ultimately win each award at the end of the year … two entirely different things. I’m basing my picks on data and what I’ve seen on film.
I also have some slightly different rules and beliefs that I use in my picks than the end-of-season electorate does. I’ll mention them as we go through each award.Subscribe: ‘The Bill Barnwell Show’One broader one is that availability matters. Players who aren’t playing aren’t helping their teams. At the end of the season, missing anything more than a couple of games really hurts a player’s chances of winning an award unless they’ve completely dominated the competition.
Shrunk down to a four-game sample, missing even one half of football is enough to seriously poke holes in a player’s résumé. There are a handful of stars, with Baltimore receiver Zay Flowers as the most prominent case, where simply being unavailable for some part of the first four weeks is holding an otherwise impressive start back.Let’s go award by award, from Defensive Rookie of the Year to MVP. I’ll look back at these eight awards after Week 9 when I put together my midseason award rankings to see who held on to their crown and who fell off quicker than expected.Jump to an award: DROY | OROY | Coach of the Year Comeback Player of the Year Protector of the Year DPOY | OPOY | MVPDefensive Rookie of the YearWe’ve seen plenty of defensive rookies getting regular snaps this season. Through four weeks, 24 rookies have suited up for at least 50% of their teams’ defensive snaps, up from 22 players in 2025, 13 in 2024 and 16 in 2023.
Titans linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and Bears safety Dillon Thieneman have been on the field for every one of their teams’ snaps this season, a relatively rare feat for a rookie at any position.No one has really separated from the pack yet. The best rookie defender I’ve seen on a per-snap basis has been Chiefs cornerback Mansoor Delane, who finished his first drive as a pro with an interception of Bo Nix. Unfortunately, Delane suffered a shoulder injury and missed all but three snaps of the first two weeks of the season. He has been an excellent two-way defender from the very first drive of the year and should climb back into contention if he can stay on the field.Others might be able to carve out larger roles after proving themselves early in the season.
It’s going to be tough for the Cowboys to take Jaishawn Barham off the field after what he has done against the run over the past two weeks. Gabe Jacas has flashed as a pass rusher and disruptor in the backfield for the Patriots. Sonny Styles has one of the most physically impressive plays of the season on his tape, with the Commanders linebacker trucking Saquon Barkley in pass protection and running through the star back for a sack in Week 1. They’ll each have a shot at working their way into the top three in the weeks to come.3.
Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Miami DolphinsGiven how many rookies the Dolphins are lining up on a weekly basis, it’s probably inevitable that at least one of their young players was going to make it into the top three here. Rodriguez has had his issues handling play-action this season, but he has been an impact defender against the run. The second-round pick has made tackles on nearly 24% of designed runs against the Dolphins, the 12th-best rate among players with 150 defensive snaps or more this season.And while making tackles doesn’t mean much if they’re 10 or more yards downfield, 4.6% of Rodriguez’s tackles have produced stuffs for no gain or a loss — including three for loss on Kenneth Walker III when the Dolphins played the Chiefs in Week 3. In you haven’t noticed, defenses haven’t exactly had much success tackling Walker anywhere this season, let alone behind the line.2.
Hezekiah Masses, CB, Las Vegas RaidersWhile most of the talk about the Raiders 3-1 start has understandably been about the offense, Masses has been a bright spot for Vegas in what has long been a problem spot at cornerback. The fifth-round pick started the season as the understudy to Darien Porter on the outside, but when Porter suffered a foot injury late in the Week 1 win over the Dolphins, Masses took over the job and has made it his own. Porter has played just three defensive snaps over the past two weeks since returning to the lineup.Masses is tied for the NFL lead with three interceptions, which might overstate his impact. One of those picks was an almost comical example of a Chargers drop by David Njoku, while the other was a wounded duck that came off the hands of Tyler Shough as he was hit mid-release.
Those interceptions count, though, and Masses has six passes defensed across 20 targets this season, per NFL Next Gen Stats. He has allowed about 40 receiving yards per game as the nearest defender in coverage and has held his own as a tackler.Masses probably isn’t going to finish the season averaging close to a pick per game, but he looks like he belongs on the field as a starting-caliber CB, which isn’t exactly commonplace for even highly touted rookies.1. Arvell Reese, LB/Edge, New York GiantsReese is a very scary player. He has been on the field for over 99% of the defensive snaps for the Giants, opening the year in what has primarily been an off-ball linebacker role while leading the league in solo tackles (27).
With Brian Burns suffering a season-ending torn ACL, though, the Giants moved Reese onto the line of scrimmage more often against the Cardinals in Week 4, with their first-round pick playing more than 46% of his defensive snaps as an edge defender, up from 34% over the first three weeks.The operative phrase with Reese is going to be “stuffing the stat sheet,” and we’re already getting there. Against the Cardinals, Reese recorded his third tackle for loss of the season, batted down a pass and caught an interception off a deflection at the line of scrimmage. Another Reese pressure on a blitz from the second level hit Jacoby Brissett as he threw and produced a pick by Greg Newsome II on an underthrown ball. Reese isn’t the Micah Parsons-esque pass rusher Giants fans might have hoped they were landing when he fell to the fifth pick of this year’s draft, but New York probably doesn’t beat Arizona on Sunday without him being the best player on the field.Offensive Rookie of the YearMany of the high-profile offensive draftees from 2026 haven’t had a chance to really show what they can do.
Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza hasn’t played a single regular-season snap. Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love, recovering from a high ankle sprain, has been on the field for only 50% of the offensive snaps in Arizona and told his own coaches that other backs were in better shape to help the team against the Giants last week. Saints receiver Jordyn Tyson is on injured reserve with a hamstring issue. Those are three of the top four picks on the offensive side from this year’s draft, and they’ve collectively played 131 snaps.The other player in that big four might be about to make his move.
Receiver Carnell Tate got off to a slow st
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