2017 NFL Awards: Our Writers See Tom Brady as MVP

Executive of the Year: Dave Caldwell/Tom Coughlin (4)

Runner-ups: Howie Roseman (3), Rick Spielman (3), Les Snead (3), John Lynch (2), Mickey Loomis (2), Bill Belichick (1)

Executive of the Year is one of the most overlooked awards, but it's one of my favorites. There’s a lot of mystery around it. Should someone be rewarded for long-term team building or a sharp one-year improvement? Or a mix of the two? The results are always interesting -- last year Jerry Reese and Reggie McKenzie tied for the award.

This year, there were so many surprises, and the results were all over. Six different executives got at least two votes. David Caldwell -- and in extension, Tom Coughlin -- got the edge by building up the league’s best overall defense and one of the 30-best pass defenses we’ve seen by Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per play since 2000.

During the offseason, the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Calais Campbell -- our Defensive Player of the Year -- to set the pace along the defensive line and A.J. Bouye to put on the other side of Jalen Ramsey in the secondary. The big moves worked as the Jaguars finished the year as our second-best team by nERD and made the playoffs for the first time since 2007.