The Jets annually present more awards to their players than just the Curtis Martin Team MVP title. Six other winners were named at Friday's team meeting in the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, topped by four awards going to three men who played admirably in the trenches this season.
Dennis Byrd Most Inspirational — Harrison Phillips
Harrison Phillips has been a motivational speaker and doer ever since the burly eighth-year D-lineman arrived from Minnesota in a late-August trade. On his arrival, he said the Jets feature "young players that have a lot of flash, players that I hope my veteran leadership can help out. ... They've got all the talent in the world. I'm excited to get out there and start practicing." His optimistic message has only gotten louder as the season has unfolded and was recognized by the vote of his teammates.
The award, named after Dennis Byrd, whose highly promising four-year Jets career was cut short by his paralyzing injury in 1992 but who fought back hard with grit and determination to walk again less than a year later before the '93 opener, has gone primarily to defensive players in the last 15 years. The most recent defender to cage the Byrd was inspirational MLB and team captain C.J. Mosley in 2022. Byrd received the honor named after him posthumously in 2016 after he died in a car accident earlier that year.
LBs David Harris and Demario Davis and DL Steve McLendon each have won the award twice since 2012. Phillips is in position to be the first Jet to win the Byrd award in back-to-back seasons since McLendon took home his second and third awards in 2018-19.
Selfless Warrior / Kyle Clifton Good Guy — Joe Tippmann
Joe Tippmann is a double winner in this year's awards roster, being named Selfless Warrior by his teammates and also accepting the Kyle Clifton Good Guy Award in a vote of the Jets staff. He's the first winner of two team awards since Quinnen Williams in 2021 and the first OL to earn two awards since T Kareem McKenzie in '04.
The self-descriptive Selfless Warrior award was begun in 2022. Offensive linemen have won three of the four awards and guards have taken the last two, with LG John Simpson being named the Selfless Warrior a year ago before Tippmann took it this time.
A big factor in this award was Tippmann's unflinching position move the week before the season began. The Jets' second-round selection in 2023 got his pro feet wet with four starts at RG in '23 before shifting to C for his next 27 starts. He was set to handle the pivot duties again this year, until Alijah Vera-Tucker went down with a season-ending triceps injury. Head coach Aaron Glenn and his coaches moved Josh Myers, the veteran free agent C from Green Bay, into the middle of the line and shifted Tippmann to RG.
"That always stays in my back pocket. It's something I have experience doing," Tippmann said of playing guard. "Wherever they need me to play, I'll play."
Tippmann was only the second guard and second O-lineman to be voted the Kyle Clifton award winner in the last 11 seasons. Vera-Tucker was named the Jets' "Good Guy" in 2022. Before that, the most recent OL to win the award was T Austin Howard in 2012.
Ed Block Courage — Olu Fashanu
Olu Fashanu, in line to start all 17 games at LT this season in his second year in green and white, was named the Jets' winner of the Ed Block honor, which is presented to a player from each NFL team voted for by their teammates as role models of inspiration, sportsmanship and courage.
Fashanu follows Vera-Tucker, who received this honor in '24, and RB Breece Hall, the '23 winner. Eight of the Jets' last 11 Block winners have been offensive players.
Marty Lyons Community Service — Marcelino McCrary-Ball
The Lyons Award, named after the Jets' beloved defensive tackle and radio analyst and voted on by the Jets' staff since 1990, goes this year to Marcelino McCrary-Ball, the third-year player who arrived on the Jets' practice squad after 2023 final cuts and has made a home at linebacker and on special teams, for which he was named a team co-captain this season.
This honor has been dominated by defensive players, who have been the recipients of the past seven Lyons awards, most recently by Quincy Williams, McCrary 'Ball's LB teammate, in 2024.
Bill Hampton — Azareye'h Thomas
Azareye'h Thomas, the Jets' third-round rookie out of Florida State, is this year's Bill Hampton honoree. The award, named after the Jets' late, great equipment manager, since 2004 has been presented to "the rookie who acts like a pro in the locker room" by a vote of the team's equipment staff and past winners.
Only four defensive players have won the "Hamp" in its 22 years. DL Kyle Phillips did it most recently in 2019, Pro Football Hall of Famer Darrelle Revis got the nod in '07, and S Erik Coleman was named the first Hampton winner in '04.
