30 NFL players you won’t believe never won an award

17. Champ Bailey
Pro Football Hall of Fame: 2019

Champ Bailey is largely considered to be one of the greats at the cornerback position, but we’ve already covered how the CB position is ranked when it comes to voters. They just aren’t given the same credence that pass rushers are given. However, a player like Bailey impacted the game the same. You think a cornerback can only cover one player during a play? Ask a quarterback what happened when Bailey was on the field. His eyes could not go to the side Bailey was on. 

And when quarterbacks felt they had no other choice but to throw Bailey’s way, it rarely ended positively for them. If he didn’t intercept the pass, he deflected it, making it dangerous for the opposing team. He led the league with 24 passes deflected in 2002. They didn’t even name him All-Pro that season. 

Bailey had 16 pass deflections, five interceptions, and a defensive touchdown in his rookie season. Voters gave the Rookie of the Year to Jevon Kearse, which is fair. He broke the rookie record for sacks by a rookie. However, in 2006, Bailey had 10 interceptions, leading the league, and returned them for more than 160 yards total. That is on top of 21 passes deflected and a defensive touchdown to boot. Just for good measure, he had a career-high 86 tackles. 

Still nothing. He finished second in Defensive Player of the Year to… a pass rusher. Jason Taylor made headlines with two interceptions for touchdown, and that was enough to sway voters away from the best cornerback of the time.