For many fans, the wait between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl is an interminable one.
In fairness, the NFL has tried to fill that two-week break between its biggest games of the year.
Much to the league’s chagrin, the Pro Bowl event has largely become a joke, devolving from a showcase of the league’s all-stars to a random assortment of events involving those players — like dodgeball.
The other event meant to fill that void has been the annual NFL Honors show, which is where the league bestows its annual awards to various players.
NFL Honors has generally been received better than the modern Pro Bowl, as fans still have plenty of vested interest in whether or not certain players or teams will walk away with meaningful awards, such as the Most Valuable Player or Defensive Player of the Year awards.
This year? NFL Honors, which took place Thursday, was under a bit of a hotter microscope than normal after fans noticed some glaring mistakes with the show, sparking concerns that the award show could be going the way of the Pro Bowl in terms of relevance.
Here’s faith-focused sports commentator Jon Root calling out one of the award presenters, comedian Tiffany Haddish, for completely butchering the pronunciation of New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel’s name:
This was another embarrassing moment for the league at NFL Honors…
Comedian Tiffany Haddish mispronounced New England Patriots HC Mike Vrable’s name as “Mike Verbal” during the Coach of the Year presentation
This was unprofessional & disrespectful
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) February 6, 2026
Haddish called Vrabel — pronounced “vray-bel” — as Mike “Verbal,” a gaffe that Root described as “unprofessional & disrespectful,” while presenting the Patriots coach with his Coach of the Year award.
Alas, that was hardly the only error that cast a negative light on NFL Honors.
Social media star Druski also presented an award, this time to Seattle Seahawks standout receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, for the league’s Offensive Player of the Year honor. And Druski butchered Smith-Njigba’s name far worse than Mike “Verbal.”
Druski mispronounced Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s name on purpose, right?
This was worse than Mike Verbal pic.twitter.com/ZBBMDDHscP
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) February 6, 2026
But it wasn’t just the names. Apparently, NFL Honors was so busy during this break between games that it didn’t have time to find actual footage of some of the award nominees, like Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate and Patriots running back, TreVeyon Henderson.
Instead, NFL Honors felt compelled to splice in Henderson footage from the Madden video games, prompting one X user to call the whole thing a “very unserious league and award show”:
Here’s Treveyon Henderson’s highlights from NFL Honors… Very unserious league and award show 🤣🤣 https://t.co/DEktFHRLMC pic.twitter.com/KuynNSqgjh
— Follow: @ThrowbackPATS (@ThrowbackPATS) February 6, 2026
Social media is currently awash with blowback, with many NFL fans lamenting the poor quality of a show meant to honor the league’s very best players and coaches — and capture national attention during this NFL down period.
Other prominent NFL award winners included Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (Most Valuable Player), Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (Defensive Player of the Year), and San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (Comeback Player of the Year).
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