Tag: MVP

Lamar Jackson named PFF’s mid-season MVP; Derrick Henry named Offensive Player of the Year

Lamar Jackson named PFF’s mid-season MVP; Derrick Henry named Offensive Player of the Year

With eight weeks in the books for the 2024 NFL season, PFF has released its midseason awards, with the Baltimore Ravens taking home both MVP and Offensive Player of the Year honors.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson was named PFF’s midseason Most Valuable Player. It would be hard to argue against the two-time MVP quarterback being the frontrunner for this season’s award. Jackson has the best passing season of his career while maintaining his unique and electrifying rushing ability.

“Jackson has once again raised his game and could be barreling toward his third MVP award,” PFF’s Dalton Wasserman wrote. “He’s currently on pace to set career-highs in passing grade, turnover-worthy play rate, and yards per attempt while leading players in carries of 10 or more yards. Jackson’s 87.8 passing grade is the second-best in the NFL behind Joe Burrow. His dual-threat abilities are a cheat code for a team that is leading the NFL in total offense and offensive grade.”

Ravens running back Derrick Henry, Jackson’s punishing partner in the backfield, was named PFF’s Offensive Player of the Year. The 30-year-old veteran quickly squashed any fears of signing an aging running back. Henry has helped to take Baltimore’s already potent offense to another level this season with his big-play ability.

“Henry has been everything the Ravens could have possibly imagined when they signed him in the offseason,” Wasserman wrote. “He leads the NFL in rushing by nearly 200 yards. His 91.5 rushing grade paces the league as well, and the only player in the league with more explosive runs is, of course, his quarterback, Lamar Jackson. Henry and Jackson have formed one of the most formidable backfield duos the league has ever seen.”

Steelers’ legendary QB gives his opinion on the team MVP in 2024 

Former Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger stated on Tuesday that he believes Pittsburgh’s current MVP is Special Teams Coach Danny Smith.

After winning two Super Bowls with two different head coaches, Steelers’ legendary QB Ben Roethlisberger is a solid judge of quality coaching ability. On this week’s episode of his podcast, Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, the former Steelers’ QB stated that one man, and one man alone, is Pittsburgh’s MVP this season—Special Teams Coach Danny Smith. 

Smith’s unit has presented a masterclass in special teams coverage, from blocked field goals to excellent punt returns. Smith was visibly upset over a botched call against an impressive special teams effort made by FS Minkah Fitzpatrick on Week 7’s Sunday Night Football, but his demeanor quickly shifted to excitement later that night as the team successfully blocked a field goal in their win over the New York Jets. 

Roethlisberger is mostly taking this opportunity to give the Steelers’ coach his flowers, but Smith’s special teams unit has truly been a spectacle for fans this season.  

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J.J. Watt makes his case for Jayden Daniels as MVP

JJ Watt makes his case for Jayden Daniels.

Legendary former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt has seen enough. He believes Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is a legit MVP candidate.

“People don’t want to give a rookie MVP,” Watt said this week on the “Pat McAfee Show.”

“I think they think the Rookie of the Year award, that’s his recognition, his MVP, no matter how good he plays. You kind of have to prove it over time to earn an MVP award, which I 100% and completely disagree with. Who knows how this is going to play out over the course of the rest of the year? We’re only seven weeks in. But if he continues to play at a rate that nobody in the history of the league has ever done, and he continues to elevate this team to where they go on and possibly win this division, possibly win some playoff games. I mean, that would be the definition of a most valuable player. He was drafted, he came in, and he turned an entire organization around in one year. That’s the most valuable player.”

Watt provided more information for his argument.

Watt makes some compelling arguments. The MVP isn’t meant to be awarded to the player with the best stats but the player who is most valuable to their team. Yes, there is a long way to go, but through seven weeks, what player has transformed a franchise like Daniels has done with the Commanders?

Yes, he’s had plenty of help, but Washington is a legit playoff contender because of Daniels. Without Daniels? Not so much.

Daniels injured his rib in last Sunday’s win over the Panthers and did not return. His mother later said he was fine, but head coach Dan Quinn said Daniels was “week to week” and he was “hopeful” he could play on Sunday vs. the Chicago Bears.

Bills’ Josh Allen is the favorite to win 2024 NFL MVP after three weeks

Bills’ Josh Allen is the favorite to win 2024 NFL MVP after three weeks

Through three weeks of the 2024 NFL season, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has never looked better. As of Tuesday morning, the seventh-year signal-caller has surpassed Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs as the odds-on favorite to win the NFL MVP award.

After a slow start in the first half of Week 1’s comeback win over the Arizona Cardinals, Allen has played dominant, mistake-free football while spreading the ball all over the field to his teammates. The latest was his effort against the Jacksonville Jaguars on ‘Monday Night Football’ in which he threw four first-half touchdowns and posted the highest total QBR (98.3) for a QB since the 2021 season.

His play has him sitting atop the league’s very best:

A couple of statistics highlight just how excellent he has been. First off, Allen’s EPA per dropback is currently .62, which is far ahead of everyone else in the league and is the highest by any NFL QB through three weeks of the season since 2016. Secondly, Allen’s 92.6 total QBR is the very best the metric has seen through three weeks since it was introduced in 2006.

So far in 2024, Allen has thrown seven touchdowns to zero interceptions while completing 75.0% of his passes. On the ground, he has added two scores and run for nine first downs.

We got glimpses of what the pairing of Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady could accomplish in the back half of last year, but what they’re doing to start the season is more than impressive.

It seems it’s all coming together for Allen in his seventh year. He has a running game, he has a good offensive line, and he has a play-caller in Brady who is making the game simple for his quarterback. It has never all clicked like this at once for Allen except for maybe the two playoff games in 2021. But even then, the running game wasn’t a major threat to defenses.

We will have to see if Allen and company can keep it up for the rest of the season. Just last year, after the Bills blowout the Miami Dolphins to move to 3-1, Allen found himself as the MVP favorite. But, this year feels different. With Brady calling the shots, the offense seems less one-dimensional on more sustainable.

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Caitlin Clark deservedly earned 3rd-place MVP votes to cap standout rookie season

MVP votes as a rookie.

Now that the WNBA regular season is over, awards have been decided and Caitlin Clark’s phenomenal rookie campaign is being cemented in history. Not only was she named the unanimous AP Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-WNBA player, Clark also received MVP votes.

Though A’ja Wilson won the award unanimously, Clark put together a good enough campaign to finish fourth in voting, and she even received a few votes for third place.

In fact, Clark’s six third-place votes were second most to Breanna Stewart, and she led all players with 26 fourth-place votes. With an additional 22 fifth-place votes, Clark tallied 130 points to finish fourth in voting, just ahead of the Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas.

https://twitter.com/ItsMeghanLHall/status/1837834637176963096

Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx and Stewart finished second and third in voting, respectively.

Clark’s top-five finish isn’t too surprising after her historic first year helped catapult the Indiana Fever from 13 wins last season to 20 wins and a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Clark played all 40 games and led the Fever with 19.2 points per game and a league-best 8.4 assists. Her Fever teammate Kelsey Mitchell also received third- and fifth-place MVP votes.

Indiana opens the playoffs Sunday against Thomas and the Sun.

FOX Sports’ Emmanuel Acho: ‘This feels like a Josh Allen MVP year’

FOX Sports’ Emmanuel Acho: ‘This feels like a Josh Allen MVP year’

After seeing Josh Allen throw for two touchdowns, run for two touchdowns, and bring his team back from a 14-point deficit in Week 1’s 34-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Emmanuel Acho of Fox Sports said that it “feels like a Josh Allen MVP year.” 

Acho, a current NFL MVP voter, was left in awe at the performance of the Bills’ QB1.

“To me, Josh Allen wasn’t just the most impressive player on the field… he was the most impressive player in the National Football League [in Week 1] … when you think about the most valuable player in football, it’s not just ‘what do you do for yourself’, but ‘what do you do for everybody around you,’” Acho said.

Acho’s main reason for bringing Allen into the MVP conversation so early in the year is because of the way he elevates the play of his teammates, mentioning the fact that Allen elevated the game of Mack Hollins, Keon Coleman, and James Cook in the win.

“This feels like one of those Josh Allen elevation years,” Acho said about Allen lifting those around him.

We have seen this in the past, with Allen elevating the performance of guys like John Brown, Cole Beasley, Stefon Diggs, and Gabe Davis. Not to mention former teammates such as Robert Foster and Isaiah McKenzie, who Allen helped become serviceable players while on the Bills and then they couldn’t find stable production after leaving.

Acho is onto something. And he is most likely late to the party. The Bills have been witnessing Allen elevate his teammates dating back to the upset over the Minnesota Vikings in his rookie year.

The chips seem to be aligning for Allen in his seventh season: Diggs is gone which means the narrative for many now is that Allen will put the offense on his back (which he has already been doing), Joe Brady looks to be a stable play-caller who trusts Allen and gives him plenty of say in the offense, and this year the Bills have arguably the most depth at the skill positions in Allen’s tenure.

Allen got off to a hot start in Week 1 and it got a lot of people buzzing, but if he can go on the road to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and put on a show during a win, then the MVP talks will be undeniable.

Here is the full clip of Acho praising Allen:

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Joe Burrow gets an MVP nod from NFL expert

Joe Burrow…the next NFL MVP?

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow missed half of the season last year due to a wrist injury after not even being at full strength for most of the time he actually was on the field, dealing with a calf strain that had been nagging since the preseason.

However, now he enters the 2024 season seemingly with no issues and should be back to his old self. Sports Illustrated NFL reporter Albert Breer recognizes that Burrow is back, and he has some high expectations for the signal-caller.

In a tweet that linked to an article he headlined, “Bengals QB Joe Burrow Is Back and Better Than Ever,” Breer predicted that Burrow would win the MVP award this season.

“Joe Burrow’s been through a lot the last year,” the tweet read. “But he never wasted a minute trying to get back to being himself. And now, he’s on the doorstep of it.”

In the article, Breer predicted that not only would Burrow win MVP, but he would also take Cincinnati back to the Super Bowl. He believes that Burrow was at his best after he had healed from his calf strain and before he injured his wrist, and due to his drive to improve, he will be even better when he gets back on the field for a full season.

While it will be a while before anyone can see whether Breer’s prediction comes true, the journey for Burrow to try to get there begins on Sunday against the New England Patriots, and he is ready to get back out on the field.

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Ravens MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson ‘wants to be labeled a champion’

Baltimore Ravens MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson says he wants to be labeled a champion

Through seven seasons as an NFL quarterback, Lamar Jackson has accomplished almost everything possible with the Baltimore Ravens, including two MVP awards and multiple All-Pro and Pro Bowl selections. However, one major milestone remains for Jackson: winning a Super Bowl.

Jackson was asked if a Super Bowl was the last box he needed to check.

“That’s been the first checkbox for me since 2018,” Jackson said. “I said that [on] April 26 – whenever I was drafted – I said that, and I meant that. This is the highest level of the game we play. You’ve got to go out a champion, and that’s what I want to be labeled as – a champion. [I don’t] just want to be labeled as MVP [Most Valuable Player] here and there; I want to be a champion.”

The Ravens fell just one game short of making the Super Bowl last season, losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, after finishing with a league-best 13-4 record and Jackson taking home his second MVP. Jackson and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes are both two-time MVPs, but the main thing separating the two is that Mahomes has also won three Super Bowls and three Super Bowl MVP awards, while Jackson had only two playoff wins.

To be champions, Jackson and Baltimore will likely have to overcome the Kansas City-sized obstacle that has been blocking the rest of the AFC for years now.

 

Saints one of the few teams without a league MVP in team history

No Saints player has ever won the NFL MVP award. History and current roster construction tell you the drought likely won’t end soon:

The New Orleans Saints are one of seven teams in the NFL to never have a regular season Most Valuable Player. That drought likely won’t end any time soon. Drew Brees has a Super Bowl MVP and a couple of snubs for the regular season award, but he was never named league MVP.

This is a quarterback award. Ironically, the last non-quarterback to win this award was LaDainian Tomlinson who won it in Brees’ only first-team All-Pro season in 2006. If any player on the current Saints team would win it, it would have to be Derek Carr.

Derek Carr turned 33 this offseason, and it’s unlikely he has an MVP season left in him. Klint Kubiak’s system is quarterback-friendly, and the hope is he will improve from last year. Being the best quarterback in the league is just a longshot.

History just doesn’t suggest a 33-year-old quarterback will turn into a MVP candidate at that age. There’s been very few players to win the award at that age, let alone win the first ever of their career.

Positional value means the Saints likely won’t have an MVP until they get a young quarterback in the building. Of the seven teams looking for their first winner, four of them have a young quarterback currently on the roster.

The New York Jets have Aaron Rodgers, so they feel that MVP window is still open. That leaves the Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the two teams who don’t feel like they have a quarterback who could win an MVP in 2024 or grow into an MVP candidate.

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Frankie Luvu predicted to be Commanders’ non-QB MVP for 2024 season

Everyone believes Frankie Luvu will have a big season in 2024.

The Washington Commanders signed several players in free agency this offseason. General manager Adam Peters had a tall task in front of him: upgrading a 4-13 roster. He used free agency to raise Washington’s floor without sacrificing any future long-term flexibility.

Peters handed out mostly one-year contracts this offseason. A select few did receive multi-year deals, including linebacker Frankie Luvu.

Luvu, 27, is coming off back-to-back impressive seasons for the Carolina Panthers, where he recorded a combined 12.5 sacks. In addition to being an every-down linebacker, Luvu also served in a pass-rushing role for the Panthers, which is similar to how he’ll be used by Washington head coach Dan Quinn.

Expectations are high for Luvu, with some predicting he’ll make his first Pro Bowl in 2024.

Ben Standig of The Athletic believes Luvu will have a big season, too. The Athletic recently named one non-quarterback MVP for all 32 NFL teams, and Standig chose Luvu for Washington.

Micah Parsons wasn’t one of the several familiar faces head coach Dan Quinn brought over from his three-year stint with the Cowboys. Bummer. However, the three-time All-Pro is mentioned frequently in Washington because his linebacker/edge rusher role did travel with Quinn and defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. Luvu, one of the Commanders’ primary free-agent signings this offseason, arrived with the versatility required to play multiple spots. At 27, Luvu is an ascending talent coming off back-to-back 100-tackle seasons with 12 1/2 combined sacks. He will play every down, and the defensive personnel will shift depending on where the coaches deploy this aggressive playmaker.

While Parsons didn’t follow Quinn to Washington, the head coach and defensive coordinator, Joe Whitt Jr., have an idea of how they want to use Luvu. With Bobby Wagner signed to play middle linebacker, that frees up Luvu to be in a more playmaking role for Washington’s defense in 2024.

If Luvu plays in every game, he could put up the best numbers of his career, which would make him a reasonable choice for non-QB MVP.