The NFL’s annual awards are completely subjective, with a panel of 50 voters casting ballots for each of the Associated Press’ honors. At times, the selections are unanimous, but that’s rare because more often than not, there are several deserving candidates for each award.
While we never find out what each voter’s ballot looks like, the Associated Press does release voting tallies for every award. And looking at the Defensive Rookie of the Year voting results, it’s abundantly clear that voters favored Will Anderson Jr. and Jalen Carter over Kobie Turner because they were first-round picks.
According to the AP, Turner finished third with a total of 95 points, behind Anderson (151) and Carter (122). He received 14 first-place votes just like Carter, and he was just two first-place votes shy of Anderson’s total, but what crushed Turner’s odds was the fact that of the 50 voters, 23 of them didn’t have him on their ballot at all (h/t ProFootballTalk)
That’s ludicrous.
Voting for AP Defensive Rookie of the Year (5-3-1 scoring):
Will Anderson, Houston, 16-21-8=151
Jalen Carter, Philadelphia, 14-14-10=122
Kobie Turner, Los Angeles Rams, 14-6-7=95
Devon Witherspoon, Seattle 4-7-16=57
YaYa Diaby, Tampa Bay, 1-0-1=6
Joey Porter Jr., Pittsburgh,…— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) February 9, 2024
How is it possible that nearly half of the voters didn’t even have Turner on their radar as a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate? You’re telling me he wasn’t even deserving of a third-place vote?
He led all rookies with nine sacks! Either 23 voters saw that and chose to ignore it, or they had no idea who Turner was because he was drafted in the third round, unlike Anderson and Carter. There’s no easy solution for this problem and no matter how award-winners are chosen, there will be controversy, but it’s outrageous that 23 of 50 voters didn’t even consider the rookie sacks leader for Defensive Rookie of the Year.