Let’s be honest here, they should rename this award “Most Valuable Quarterback” instead of “Most Valuable Player”. In the past 30 years, only 8 times has it not been a quarterback (only running backs at that). The last running back to win MVP was Adrian Peterson in 2012. Here is a rundown of the players that caught my eye, both good and bad.
MVP: Russell Wilson – QB – Seattle
To most people, this seems to be the year Russell Wilson wins his first MVP award. Wilson is on track to have a career high in passing yards (4300+), and QBR of 115. The Seahawks are riding high, currently sitting at 6-2 and 2nd in the NFC West. Wilson has been nearly flawless in the first half of the season having only thrown 1 interception and 17 touchdowns so far this season. Wilson will have 2 chances to cement his MVP status against the high flying San Francisco 49ers.
LVP: Todd Gurley – HB – Los Angeles
It’s amazing how far Gurley has fallen. It seems in the past 18 months, Gurley has went from the best player in football to the worst. Through 8 weeks, Gurley has barely rushed for over 350 yards on 92 attempts. This is poor for a guy of his caliber. Todd Gurley is not a guy who should be losing touches to Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson. Gurley has averaged nearly 5 yards per carry over the past 2 seasons. However, ever since his late season injury last year, Gurley has never seemed to recover.
MVP: Christian McCaffrey – HB – Carolina
With Cam Newton being out after week 2, Christian McCaffrey has carried this team on his back to a solid 4-3 record. McCaffrey has over 1,000 total yards with over 5 yards per carry and nearly 9 yards per reception. Through the first 5 weeks of the season, no other guy has had more total yards (866) since the beginning of the AFL-NFL merger.
LVP: Baker Mayfield – QB – Cleveland
The Browns came into the 2019 season with more hype than almost every other team. This team seemed destined to make a real challenge in the AFC. However, as we now know, this is not the case. At the forefront of this dysfunction is Baker Mayfield. In 2019, Baker has thrown 12 interceptions. That is double his touchdown total. Furthermore, Baker has a completion percentage of less than 60% 4 times. So far, he has yet to have higher than 66%. The Browns are currently sitting at 2-5 and only the Bengals are beneath them in their division.
MVP: Aaron Rodgers – QB – Green Bay
Aaron Rodgers is the bread and butter for this Green Bay team. He has shown throughout this season that age and injuries have not caught up to him. He is currently sitting second in passing yards (2324) and second in passing touchdowns (16). All the while only throwing 2 interceptions. Rodgers showed his talents in week 8 on primetime. What seemingly looked as if he was throwing the ball away while falling on his back, ended up being an absolute dot to Jamal Williams.
LVP: Mitchell Trubisky – QB – Chicago
The Bears have probably been the most disappointing team. After coming off a bad playoff loss, this team was projected to win their division with Trubisky to take the next step in his career. However, that was not the case. Through 6 games (missed 1 for injury), Trubisky barely has over 1000 yards passing and only 5 touchdowns to show for it. 3 of the 5 full games he’s played this season, he’s had 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in total. Trubisky is also to blame for the loss to Los Angeles (Chargers). Trubisky missed a wide open Trey Burton, who would’ve had a big gain, but forced it elsewhere and ended up throwing an interception. In addition, later in the game, he had a wide open Taylor Gabriel running free, Trubisky over throws him, and fumbles the following play. The Chargers score the game winning touchdown on that drive.
MVP: Deshaun Watson – QB – Houston
Deshaun Watson is having a crazy year. Nearly 70% passing with 2230 yards and 15 touchdowns. Watson is on track to have career bests in completion percentage (69.35), passing yards (4450+) and touchdowns (32). Most importantly, his play his significantly improved this year due to his offensive lineman. The addition of Laremy Tunsil has brought down the sack total to just 24 at the mid way point. Watson was sacked over 60 times last season. Watson has his Texans competing heavily in the AFC for the division win and possibly a first round bye. If he can get the number 2 seed with Houston, it’ll be hard to take away the MVP from him.
LVP: Melvin Gordon – HB – Los Angeles Chargers
I think it’s safe to say Melvin Gordon will never miss another training camp again. He even said it, and his play has resulted negatively from it. With the Chargers having Justin Jackson and Austin Ekeler, this possibly hurt the ongoing contract negotiations as the Chargers didn’t see a major need to resign Gordon for what he believed he was worth. However, since Gordon ended his holdout shortly after Jackson was injured, he has only rushed for 30 yards twice out of the 4 games he has played in. That’s poor. Ekeler’s proficiency in the passing game has seemingly stole reps from the former holdout.
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