Detroit Lions: Handing Out Awards for the 2016 Season
By Zac Snyder
Team MVP: Matthew Stafford
We lead off with one award for which voting was not particularly close. Matthew Stafford earned a first place vote on all six ballots and the only reason the vote was as close as it was was because Darius Slay earned five out of six second place votes.
| Player | First | Second | Third | Points |
| Matthew Stafford | 6 | 18 | ||
| Darius Slay | 5 | 10 | ||
| Taylor Decker | 3 | 3 | ||
| Glover Quin | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Kerry Hyder | 1 | 1 | ||
| Matt Prater | 1 | 1 |
Stafford fell out of the national conversation for league MVP in the last quarter of the season but that did nothing to change his status as the Lions’ MVP with our voters. Stafford wasn’t the same player, at least statistically, after his finger injury, but he was the driving force behind the Lions’ charge into the playoff picture with his performance earlier in the season.
It wasn’t just that Stafford was putting up good numbers while protecting the football, he was leading huge drives that resulted in dramatic victories. Without Stafford’s performance the first half or three-quarters of the season, a handful of wins easily could have, or even would have, been losses.
Slay’s recognition as a consistent number two is also well-deserved as he was regularly one of the only solid performers on a defense that was maligned for much of the season.
Taylor Decker’s three points highlights just how good he was as a rookie. More on that later…