DENVER (KDVR) — A player for the Denver Broncos was crowned with one of The Associated Press’ 2025 NFL Honor awards on Thursday evening.
Four Broncos were finalists for awards presented at the NFL Honors in New Orleans this year — coach Sean Payton was nominated for AP Coach of the Year, cornerback Pat Surtain II was nominated for AP Defensive Player of the Year, quarterback Bo Nix was nominated for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year and inside linebacker Alex Singleton was nominated for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award.
AP Defensive Player of the Year: CB Pat Surtain II
Cornerback and team captain Pat Surtain II is adding AP Defensive Player of the Year to his award collection. He was also recently named Defensive Player of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America and was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Month for November, among other awards.
Surtain became the first cornerback to win the honor since Stephon Gilmore in 2019.
This season was Surtain’s fourth consecutive season in Denver. The Broncos said he recorded double-digit passes defensed and matched his career high in interceptions, among other impressive statistics.
Surtain received 26 first-place votes; Trey Hendrickson finished second with 11 first-place votes and Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett had five.
Surtain thanked his parents — his father, Patrick Surtain Sr., is a former NFL cornerback — for “setting the blueprint, and turning a young man into a grown man.”
He also thanked the Broncos, as Denver coach Sean Payton nodded in the audience, “for believing in me, trusting me, allowing me to grow and be the player I am today.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
