NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year

The National Football League Rookie of the Year Award refers to any number of awards presented by various entities to the top American football rookie(s) in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL considers the rookie of the year award by the Associated Press (AP) to be its official honor.

The AP NFL Rookie of the Year award is an annual award given since 1967 to the top offensive and defensive rookie players in the NFL. Winners are selected by a nationwide panel of 50 members of the Associated Press who regularly cover the league. Ballots are cast at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs. Since 2011, winners of the AP Rookie of the Year awards are announced at the NFL Honors presentation the night before the Super Bowl along with the Pepsi Rookie of the Year award.

The Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year award is an annual award given since 2002 to the top rookie in the NFL. The winner is selected by fans through an online voting process at NFL.com.

Every week during the NFL regular season, five finalists are chosen for the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week award, and the winner is determined by fan voting online. Those results are used to help determine the finalists for the Rookie of the Year award. Voting occurs throughout the postseason and concludes the week before the Super Bowl. More than 350,000 votes were cast for the inaugural award in 2002, 1.002 million votes in 2009, and more than 1.59 million votes in 2010. Since 2011, the winner of the Pepsi Rookie of the Year award is announced at the NFL Honors show the night before the Super Bowl.

The Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers Association (PFW/PFWA) Rookie of the Year awards have been given annually to an offensive and defensive rookie in the NFL since 1969, except in 1985. In 2013, PFWA began selecting an overall NFL rookie of the year in addition to its offensive and defensive honors. The winners are chosen by Pro Football Weekly writers/editors and PFWA members.

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