The NFL has, for much of its existence, reserved its MVP Award for quarterbacks. Obviously, there have been exceptions—Adrian Peterson was the last non-quarterback to win in 2012. But with quarterback viewed as the most important position, not just in football but arguably across the professional sports landscape, these instances have been few and far between.
Last year, for instance, Derrick Henry rushed for 2,027 yards—fifth-most in NFL history—and 17 touchdowns. The Titans running back was awarded Offensive Player of the Year but didn’t garner MVP consideration with all 50 votes going to quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. But in the absence of a clear frontrunner—Rodgers and Tom Brady are having good, but not necessarily MVP-caliber seasons—is Jonathan Taylor of the Colts a legitimate threat to win the award?
History would suggest not—Taylor still sits as a +1200 long shot on FanDuel Sportsbook, with Brady (+160), Rodgers (+160), Mahomes (+850) and Matthew Stafford (+1000) all comfortably ahead of him. But after his latest performance, a 170-yard tour de force against New England, maybe it’s time to reexamine our perspective on what constitutes an NFL MVP.
The second-year stud has almost singlehandedly kept Indianapolis (8-6) in the playoff chase, leading the league in touchdowns (19), yards from scrimmage (1,854), rushing yards (1,518) and rushing attempts (270). Taylor extended his touchdown streak to 11 games with his 67-yard romp to close out the Patriots Saturday night, the longest since LaDainian Tomlinson found the end zone 18 straight times over two seasons (2004-05). The 22-year-old workhorse is having, by all accounts, an historic season, and teammates, including former Defensive Rookie of the Year Darius Leonard, believe there’s no better player in football right now.
Of course, who’s to say he’s more deserving than Cooper Kupp, the NFL’s current leader in receiving yards (1,489), receiving touchdowns (12) and total catches (113)? These arbitrary standards exist in other sports as well with pitchers rarely afforded MVP status in baseball. Designated hitters also tend to be excluded, though Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani bucked that trend in 2021. Ohtani’s All-Star teammate, Mike Trout, has often been passed over for MVP with voters penalizing him for his team’s lack of success.
As we’ve seen with some of the comically bad Hall-of-Fame ballots submitted recently, award voting in sports is inherently flawed with writers guided, not by reason and logic, but by prevailing biases established years, if not decades prior. Awarding different recipients for Offensive Player of the Year and MVP, which has happened three of the last four seasons (Henry in 2020, Todd Gurley in 2017 and Michael Thomas in 2019), is galaxy-braining at its finest, but in a league where hypocrisy runs rampant, maybe it makes perfect sense. Taylor and Kupp are both deserving MVP candidates but based on past precedent, neither will be bringing home hardware this winter.
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