Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The National Football League announced on Thursday the finalists for The Associated Press' awards for the 2024 season that will be revealed at NFL Honors.
Of the finalists for the The Associated Press' NFL awards to be handed out, the Buffalo Bills will have three representatives up for honors.
The most notable Bills player up for recognition at NFL Honors is quarterback Josh Allen, who has, once again, been named a finalist for the Most Valuable Player award.
This is the fourth time in Allen's NFL career to be named a finalist for NFL MVP. He finished second in MVP voting in 2020, third in voting in 2022, and fifth in voting just last year, receiving the only other first-place vote to the eventual winner Lamar Jackson.
The 28-year-old completed 63.6% of his pass attempts this season for 3,731 yards and 28 touchdowns to just six interceptions. Allen also added 531 yards rushing on 102 carries and 12 touchdowns. His 41 total touchdowns this season put him fourth in the NFL among quarterbacks.
Earlier this month, Allen was named a member of the AP's Second-Team All-Pro squad, finishing second in first-place votes to Jackson. It's the second time in his NFL career he's been named an AP Second-Team All-Pro, with his other nod coming in 2020.
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While most of Allen's 2024 stats were not among the top quarterbacks in the NFL, he did help the Bills finish the 2024 season with a 13-4 record, resulting in a fifth-straight AFC East title. This all came in a year in which many had thought the Bills will "retooling", and likely not to contend for another division title.
Among the notable highlights from Allen's 2024 regular season campaign included wins over the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, a pair of teams that ended the regular season with 15 wins each. It made Buffalo the first team in NFL history to accomplish such a feat over the course of a season.
Allen was also named AFC Offensive Player of the Week four different times this season, and became the first player in NFL history to record, at least, 25 passing touchdowns, 10 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown in a season.
He also became the fourth quarterback in league history to record, at least, 13 wins, 40 offensive touchdowns and fewer than 10 interceptions in a single season.
In addition, Allen has helped lead the Bills back to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 2020 with wins this postseason over the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens. They will face the Chiefs on Sunday evening at Arrowhead Stadium.
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Among the other finalists for NFL MVP this season includes Jackson - looking to win his second-straight MVP honor and third overall - Saquon Barkley, Joe Burrow and Jared Goff.
Meanwhile, for the second-straight season, Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been named a finalist for the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year award.
Following his 2023 season, Hamlin was among the finalists for the award after returning to football several months after nearly losing his life late in the 2022 season in a "Monday Night Football" matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Despite just being able to return to play five games, the award was given to quarterback Joe Flacco, who helped get the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs late in the year.
This year, however, Hamlin was able to not only remain in the Bills lineup on a week-to-week basis, he became a Day 1 starter at safety, playing 14 games and racking up 89 total tackles, two tackles for loss, five passes defended, one fumble recovery and the first two interceptions of his career.
In this past week's AFC Divisional Round matchup against the Ravens, Hamlin was instrumental in creating a turnover of Jackson in the second quarter, recording a sack that resulted in a fumble and Bills recovery.
The other players in the NFL up for NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2024 includes Burrow, Sam Darnold, J.K. Dobbins and Christian Gonzalez.
As for the third and final Bills representative to earn a nod as a finalist for an award in 2024 is offensive coordinator Joe Brady, as he's up for the Assistant Coach of the Year.
Along with the play of Allen on the field, Brady was instrumental in helping lead the Bills offense to another top-10 finish in the league, averaging 359.1 yards off offense per-game. The Buffalo offense also finished second this season in scoring, averaging 30.9 points per-game, only behind the Lions.
Under Brady, the Bills finished with the ninth-best passing offense 227.9 yards per-game) and ninth-best rushing offense (131.2 yards per-game).
Buffalo's offense also did a fantastic job allowing just 14 sacks, the fewest in the NFL, and a league-low eight turnovers. This made the Bills the only team in the Super Bowl era to allow less than a sack and a giveaway per-game.
And with 32 rushing touchdowns and 30 passing touchdowns, Buffalo became the first team in NFL history to record, at least, 30 passing touchdowns and 30 rushing in the same season.
This year's NFL Honors ceremony is slated for Thursday, Feb. 6 at 9 p.m. in New Orleans.