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The league’s best offensive lineman will now be honored at the end of the season.
NFL Honors will look a bit different in the upcoming season with the introduction of the “Protector of the Year” award.
The NFL is introducing the Protector of the Year Award given to the league’s best offensive lineman, as decided by a panel that includes a number of former OL greats.
Troy Vincent gives credit to Bills OL Dion Dawkins and Andrew Whitworth for pushing this idea.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) May 21, 2025
The new award, the league announced, is to honor the season’s best offensive lineman — a position group always left out of the MVP and Offensive Player of the Year discussion.
The “Protector of the Year” honor was pushed by Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins and former Rams and Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth. Per ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, the voting panel for the award will include former NFL “greats” at offensive line.
“Recognize the big fellas,” said NFL Vice President Troy Vincent, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The Steelers haven’t had an elite offensive line for several seasons, but the team would’ve had strong candidates for the award in the past. Most recently, former Pittsburgh offensive linemen Maurkice Pouncey and David DeCastro were each two-time first-team All-Pros.
Pittsburgh does have a rising star currently on the offensive line, with center Zach Frazier being named to the Pro Football Writers of America’s all-rookie team following his performance last season.