It’s December and football is at a fever pitch, with teams fighting for playoff positions and players trying to lead their teams to victory.
The NFL MVP has also become a topic of discussion during this time of the year, and the race is tighter than you can ever imagine. The Most Valuable Player award traditionally goes to the player who had the most mind-blowing stats during the season, but it’s rarely given to the player who showed that they had the most value on their team.
This year, Lamar Jackson should be put into that category and should be at the top of everybody’s MVP list.
In 2019 Jackson won MVP, as he was no-hands the best player in the league that season. Watching Jackson that year was similar to watching what Michael Vick used to do every Sunday as an Atlanta Falcon. Jackson passed for 3,127 yards and threw 36 touchdowns and six interceptions, and on the ground, he ran for 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns.
Jackson is not putting up those types of numbers this year, but he has his team sitting at a 9-3, which is tied for the best record in the AFC. What makes this even more impressive is that Lamar Jackson is doing a lot with much less than his peers.
In the first game of the season, the Ravens lost J.K. Dobbins to a season-ending injury. Later on the season, Mark Andrews, the starting tight end and one of Jackson’s favorite targets suffered a season-ending injury. Throughout the season, the Ravens have had injuries to their skill players, but Jackson has done what he could and pulled the team to victory.
Other players in the MVP race are Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy, and Patrick Mahomes to name a few. All of these quarterbacks have skill players on their team that will most likely be All-Pro players this season, and also be announced as Pro Bowlers. Right now, Jackson may be the only All-Pro on offense for the Ravens this year since Andrews is injured.
Jackson continues to show that when the ball is in his hands, good things happen for the Ravens despite who’s on the field with him. For a person who was deemed as not very accurate when it came to being a passer and could only be effective as a runner, Jackson has shown this year that he can be effective at both and lead his team to victory. His quarterback rating this year is the highest it’s been since 2019 when he won MVP.
If the voters are looking for someone who’s been the most valuable on their team and winning, Jackson should be the clear-cut winner for MVP, and it might not be close.
