NFL Players of the Year

This award has been given annually since 1957 by The Sporting News. It honors the most outstanding player in the National Football League.

• Archie Manning

  American football player.

  • 1978 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Bart Starr (born 1933)

  American football player.

  • 1966 National Football League Player of the Year
• Bob Griese

  American football player.

  • 1971 American Football Conference Player of the Year
• Norman ''Boomer'' Esiason

  American football player.

  • 1988 National Football League Player of the Year
• Brian Sipe

  American football player.

  • 1980 National Football League Player of the Year
• Chuck Foreman

  American football player.

  • 1974 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Craig Morton

  American football player.

  • 1977 American Football Conference Player of the Year
• Dan Marino

  American football player.

  • 1984 National Football League Player of the Year
• Dan Fouts

  American football player.

  • 1979 American Football Conference Player of the Year
• Earl Morrall

  American football player.

  • 1968, 1972 National Football League Player of the Year
• Earl Campbell

  American football player.

  • 1978 American Football Conference Player of the Year
• Emmitt Smith

  American football player.

  • 1993 National Football League Player of the Year
• Eric Dickerson

  American football player.

  • 1983 National Football League Player of the Year
• George Blanda

  American football player.

  • 1970 American Football Conference Player of the Year
• Jerry Rice

  American football player.

  • 1987, 1990 National Football League Player of the Year
• Jim Brown

  American football player.

  • 1957-58, 1965 National Football League Player of the Year
• Joe Montana

  American football quarterback.

  • 1989 National Football League Player of the Year
• John Brodie

  American football player.

  • 1970 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• John Hadl

  American football player.

  • 1973 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Johnny Unitas

  American football player.

  • 1959, 1964, 1967 National Football League Player of the Year
• Ken Stabler

  American football player.

  • 1974, 1976 American Football Conference Player of the Year
• Ken Anderson

  American football player.

  • 1981 National Football League Player of the Year
• Larry Brown

  American football player.

  • 1972 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Lawrence Taylor

  American football player.

  • 1986 National Football League Player of the Year
• Marcus Allen

  American football player.

  • 1985 National Football League Player of the Year
• Mark Moseley

  American football player.

  • 1982 National Football League Player of the Year
• Norm Van Brocklin

  American football player.

  • 1960 National Football League Player of the Year
• Orenthal James ''O.J.'' Simpson

  American football player and actor. His trial and acquittal on a double murder charge, and subsequent civil trial in which he was found liable for those murders, captured the world's attention in the mid-1990s.

  • 1973, 1975 American Football Conference Player of the Year
• Ottis Anderson

  American football player.

  • 1979 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Paul Hornung

  American football player.

  • 1961 National Football League Player of the Year
• Roger Staubach

  American football player.

  • 1971 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Roman Gabriel

  American football player.

  • 1969 National Football League Player of the Year
• Steve Young (born 1961)

  American football player.

  • 1992, 1994 National Football League Player of the Year
• Thurman Thomas

  American football player.

  • 1991 National Football League Player of the Year
• Walter Jerry Sweetness Payton (born 1954, died 1999)

  American football player.

  • 1976-77 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Fran Tarkenton (born 1939)

  American football player.

  • 1975 National Football Conference Player of the Year
• Brett Favre

  American football player.

  • 1995-96 National Football League Player of the Year