By: William Burns
As the NFL season is heading into its final stretch, each teams’ most valuable players are coming into the spotlight. These players are hard to track during the first few games because they have not put together consistent seasons, but with 12 weeks in the books, some top performers are putting their best foot forward and vying for that coveted award: The NFL MVP. There are four players who have really separated themselves from the pack by consistently leading their teams to victory by impacting the games in huge ways and have ended up on multiple preseason MVP polls, those players being Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Khalil Mack and Phillip Rivers.
Drew Brees has led the New Orleans Saints to a record of 10 wins and one loss this year and is currently the frontrunner in the MVP discussion. On the season he has a pass completion percentage of 76.4 percent, over 3,100 total yards and a quarterback rating of 127.3, on top of that he also has 29 touchdowns and only two interceptions all year. These already impressive stats are astounding when you account for his age. At 39 years old Brees is no young buck, but the seasoned quarterback knows what it takes to win football games, and he is doing his best to take his team to the Super Bowl and take home the NFL MVP award. Brees has emerged as the frontrunner in the polls for two straight weeks above Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes is the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs and is enjoying a very successful rookie campaign. Mahomes played in just one game last year but has been the Chief’s starter this year since week one. On the season he has a pass completion rate of 67.5 percent for a total of 3,628 yards and a quarterback rating of 117.9, he has also thrown for 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on the season leading the Chiefs to nine wins and two losses. While this is extremely impressive for a rookie quarterback, he has not proved to be as poised as Brees. When Mahomes played another Super Bowl caliber team last week in the Los Angeles Rams, he threw three interceptions and fumbled; don’t let the four turnovers fool you though, he also threw for 478 yards and six touchdowns in the 54-51 loss. Mahomes is not far behind Brees in the MVP race, and if he puts together a dazzling end of the season where he can limit his turnovers, there is little doubt that he could be named the season MVP.
Khalil Mack is the highest ranked defensive player in the MVP polls and is the only player in my top four. The Chicago Bears are at a staggering eight wins and three losses. Mack has been a huge part of their success, accounting for 28 tackles on the season, eight sacks, including two multi-sack games, an interception and five forced fumbles. Mack might not be the best defensive player in the league right now, his competition, Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams, is on a team loaded with MVP caliber talent and therefore is not as valuable to the team. Mack is easily the best player on the Bears’ defense, and that defense may carry the team deep into the playoffs. That’s why Mack made the list and not other defensive powerhouses like Aaron Donald or JJ Watt.
Phillip Rivers has put together a quietly good rèsumè while being the signal caller for the Los Angeles Chargers. Rivers has posted a 69.5 completion percentage resulting in over 3100 yards from scrimmage and an overall quarterback rating of 115.7; he also has a respectable ratio of 26 touchdowns to six interceptions while leading the Chargers to a record of eight wins and three losses, good for second place in the AFC West. Rivers put together an impressive outing last week against the Arizona Cardinals, by completing 25 passes in a row and finishing the day nearly perfect throwing 29 passes and completing 28 of them for 259 yards and three touchdowns. This bumped Rivers up a few spots in the polls, and if he continues on that clip the rest of the season, he could emerge as a frontrunner in the voting.
If these four players keep playing at their season averages, then I don’t see much change in the order. However, there is still time to go on a tear, or into a slump which could make or break these players’ MVP candidacy. Statistically speaking, Mack will not win MVP unless he has game-changing performances in all the rest of his games and takes the Bears to the Super Bowl. It is almost always an offensive player that wins MVP and most of the time it is a quarterback. If either Brees or Mahomes can lead their teams to a Super Bowl title, there is little doubt that the winning quarterback would receive the MVP award. Rivers just seems too much of stretch for MVP unless he really cranks up the intensity down the stretch.
