Russell Wilson left off list of MVP candidates
By Dan Viens
NFL.com’s Adam Schein released a list of nine potential NFL MVP candidates, and Russell Wilson is not among them.
I’ll get right to the point: this list is trash. How anyone can put a list together of nine players capable of winning the NFL MVP award and not list Wilson is misguided, at best.
First of all, here’s Schein’s list:
- Tom Brady, QB, New England
- Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay
- Cam Newton, QB, Carolina
- Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota
- J.J. Watt, DE, Houston
- Khalil Mack, OLB, Oakland
- Le’Veon Bell, RB, Pittsburgh
- Dez Bryant, WR, Dallas
- Andrew Luck, QB, Indianapolis
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And to be clear, this list wasn’t presented as “nine guys I think might be more valuable to their team than other players are to theirs.” Nope. This was sold as “an early look at the top candidates for NFL MVP in 2016.”
If Schein simply dismissed Wilson as a quarterback who plays in a run-heavy offense, incapable of putting up the kind of numbers QB’s usually require to win the award, he misses the mark for the following reasons:
- With the retirement of Marshawn Lynch, the Seahawks offense is likely to appear more like the one we saw last year. Wilson’s 24 TD passes over his last 7 regular season games may become more of the norm. Even with the early-season struggles of the offensive line, Wilson topped 4,000 yards for the first time to go along with 34 TD’s while leading the NFL in QB rating.
- The Hawks have put an emphasis on giving Wilson more to work with. No more Lynch? OK, we’ll give you three more running backs in the draft to go along with last year’s breakout rookie phenom Thomas Rawls. The eventual return of a healthy TE Jimmy Graham and WR Paul Richardson give him even more options.
- The offensive line was rebuilt through the draft and free agency with an eye towards giving Wilson a more physical, dominant front, and rookie blocking sensation TE Nick Vannett will help as well.
- A favorable early season schedule should help the Seahawks get off to a strong start, jump-starting any potential Wilson-for-MVP momentum.
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Seriously though, Schein thinks there’s a better chance of J.J Watt, Kahlil Mack or Dez Bryant winning the award? No defender has won since Lawrence Taylor in 1986, and no WR has won it since………ever!
Look, I’m not saying Wilson should be considered an MVP front-runner, but any list that leaves him off in favor of some of the other guys on Schein’s shouldn’t be taken too seriously.