The NFL Honors 2026 ceremony presented awards to deserving recipients and also had comedic moments throughout the night, both planned and unplanned.
One of the evening’s most significant awards was the NFL Coach of the Year Award, with all of the nominees seeming worthy of the distinction. They included Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, and New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.
Actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish graced the stage to present the award, but went viral with her reveal of the winner. While it went to the Patriots’ Mike Vrabel, Haddish mispronounced his name twice, once in the reveal and a second time when she indicated he sent a prerecorded video with his acceptance speech.
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Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III was among the many stars attending the event, and didn’t hesitate to call out Haddish on the glaring mistake.
“Who the hell is Mike Verbal? 🤣” RG3 fired off on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Various commenters also sounded off with replies to RG3’s remark, suggesting that they agreed with the sentiments.
“Her entire time on stage was painful RG3,” one X commenter wrote.
“Whoever that was, she butchered the F*** out of that entire speech. Guess she can’t read a teleprompter,” another commenter said.
“She sucked and so does ham. Just announce the awards on Twitter @NFL,” another X commenter replied, referring to Haddish and host Jon Hamm.
During the pre-show red carpet arrivals, Haddish was among those interviewed and indicated she was excited to be there since she’s a huge football fan. During her time on stage, she also had some fun with various NFL stars in the audience, introducing them to model the fashions they wore for the event.
Meanwhile, Mike Vrabel won the significant award in just his first season as head coach of the Patriots. Years after losing Tom Brady, Vrabel coached a team featuring NFL MVP candidate Drake Maye to a 14-3 record, the AFC East title, and a spot in Super Bowl LX.
New England faces the Seattle Seahawks in the big game on Super Bowl Sunday. While Vrabel might get verbal with his players and the referees, it’s unlikely there will be too many mispronunciations of his name during his spotlight moment.
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