NFL Quarter-Season Awards: Purdy, Kubiak and Anderson Among Early Front-Runners

With roughly a quarter of the NFL season complete, attention has turned to which players and coaches are positioning themselves as front-runners for the league's major end-of-season awards. A quarter-season awards ranking covering eight different honors through Week 4 has placed several names near the top of the conversation.

Quarterback Brock Purdy is among the players mentioned as a Most Valuable Player candidate, reflecting strong early-season form. On the coaching side, Klint Kubiak has been floated as a contender for Coach of the Year, a recognition that typically goes to a coach whose team has outperformed preseason expectations. On defense, Will Anderson Jr. appears among the names discussed for Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Why Early Rankings Matter

Quarter-season award rankings are a regular feature of NFL coverage, offering an early snapshot of which performances are resonating before the sample size grows and the playoff picture sharpens. These rankings are necessarily provisional: injuries, slumps and late-season surges routinely reshuffle award races by the time voting actually takes place after the regular season.

Still, the attention paid to candidates like Purdy, Kubiak and Anderson this early in the year reflects how quickly narratives form around standout performances. As the season progresses past its first quarter, these names will be tested against a fuller body of work, with the rankings expected to be revisited as more games are played.