Various entities present a National Football League Rookie of the Year Award each season to the top rookie(s) in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). The NFL considers the (rookie) of the year awards by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP) to be its official honor. The AP awards and

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

's rookie of the year award are presented each year at the

NFL Honors The NFL Honors is an annual awards presentation in the National Football League (NFL). The television special is held the night before the Super Bowl (except 2022 when it was held on a Thursday) at the game's host city and on the network carryi ...

Associated Press NFL ROTY Award

Offensive ROTY winners (1967–present)

Defensive ROTY winners (1967–present)

Pepsi NFL ROTY Award

Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year is an

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

given to the best performing rookie player in the

(NFL). It was first awarded in 2002 and is sponsored by

. Winners are chosen among five finalists tallied from total votes given to

Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week is an award given to the best performing rookie players in the National Football League (NFL). It was first awarded in 2002 and is sponsored by Pepsi. Winners are chosen among five finalists every week during the season ...

winners by an online vote on the NFL's official website. The award is sometimes named after other varieties of

, such as

Diet Pepsi Diet Pepsi is a diet carbonated cola soft drink produced by PepsiCo, introduced in 1964 as a variant of Pepsi with no sugar. First test marketed in 1963 under the name Patio Diet Cola, it was re-branded as ''Diet Pepsi'' the following year, becom ...

and Pepsi Zero.

Winners (2002–present)

Pro Football Writers of America NFL ROTY Award

The

Pro Football Writers of America The Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), sometimes known as Pro Football Writers Association, is an organization that purports to be " heofficial voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve ...

(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.

Overall ROTY winners (2013–present)

Offensive ROTY winners (1969–present)

Defensive ROTY winners (1969–present)

''Sporting News'' NFL ROTY Award

The ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' NFL Rookie of the Year award is chosen annually by NFL players, coaches, and executives. There were 617 voters in 2010, 632 voters in 2011, and over 800 voters in 2012.

NFL ROTY winners (1955–1959)

AFL ROTY winners (1960–1969)

NFL ROTY winners (1960–1969)

AFC ROTY winners (1970–1979)

NFC ROTY winners (1970–1979)

NFL ROTYS winners (1980–present)

Defunct awards

United Press International NFL ROTY Award

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

(UPI) awarded an annual NFL Rookie of the Year award from 1955 to 1959 and two annual awards from 1960 to 1996. From 1960 to 1969 the awards went to a rookie from the NFL and

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL), and after the

AFL–NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, w ...

in 1970, the awards went to a rookie from the

National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference ...

(NFC) and

American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...

(AFC).

NFL winners (1955–1969)

AFL winners (1960–1969)

NFC winners (1970–1996)

AFC winners (1970–1996)

NEA NFL ROTY Award

The NEA NFL Rookie of the Year award was founded in 1964 by the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

and was created by

Murray Olderman Murray Olderman (March 27, 1922 – June 10, 2020) was an American sports cartoonist and writer. His artwork often accompanied the sports stories he authored. His art also has been used by the Pro Football Hall of Fame and hung above the Hall of F ...

, the senior sports editor for the NEA. From 1971 through 1976 winners for both the

and

were chosen, except in 1974. The award was discontinued after the 1996 season. Winners were awarded the Bert Bell Memorial Trophy in honor of former NFL commissioner

Bert Bell De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was the National Football League (NFL) commissioner from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he introduced competitive parity into the NFL to improve the league's comme ...

Winners (1964–1996)

References

External links

Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year
{{NFL awards National Football League trophies and awards