Can Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz still win the NFL MVP award?

Carson Wentz had the best season by an Eagles quarterback since Donovan McNabb in 2004. His 33 touchdowns are an Eagles record and that mark still tops the NFL. However, Wentz will still miss three games this year. Which also includes multiple 4th quarters where Wentz wasn’t allowed to throw more than five balls due to large leads. Carson’s stats would be more inflated if the Eagles were in more close games and if he didn’t get injured. Wentz may have been a favorite to win the award earlier but now faces an uphill battle for the MVP.

Notable Omissions

Jared Goff:
Goff has had an incredible season for the Rams this year and his value can’t be understated. However, I’d venture that Sean McVay gets more credit for this season than he will. Not to mention Todd Gurley’s spectacular season takes attention away from Goff, but more on him later. Probably the stat that will hold Goff back the most is his 2088 yards passing after-catch this season. Goff has relied on his playmakers to do lots of the work for him this year. Which in turn, makes it harder for him to separate himself from the competition. It’ll be hard for him to gain serious consideration for MVP with all those things considered.

Any Defensive Player:
J.J. Watt was not able to win the MVP after posting 20.5 sacks and over 10 pass deflections twice in 2012 and 2014. It’s hard to imagine any defensive player winning the trophy this year, as no player came close to stats like that this year. The last defensive player to win MVP was Lawrence Taylor in 1986, expect that trend to continue.

The Steelers

Le’Veon Bell/ Ben Roethlisberger:
Bell and Roethlisberger have the exact same problem as Jared Goff. Todd Gurley is the MVP of the Rams and Antonio Brown is the MVP of the Steelers. Roethlisberger has thrown the third most interceptions this year (14) and that will make it incredibly hard for him to gain consideration. Especially when you consider other QB’s have better numbers and that they don’t get Antonio Brown to throw to. As for Bell, he has eight fewer touchdowns this year compared to Gurley while his YPC of 4.0 doesn’t compare well to Gurley’s 4.7 either.

Antonio Brown:
Probably the biggest obstacle Brown has to face is that his 1,533 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns are not historic. Brown’s 1,533 yards would rank him 33rd all-time in a single-season. Even though he’s been the best receiver in the NFL this year with 101 catches, which is only two behind the leader with only 14 games played. Brown has been spectacular this season, but teams also having to respect the Steelers run game with Bell, it’s hard to give him the MVP.

The Field:

Tom Brady:
Tom Brady is a two-time MVP winner has been spectacular for the Patriots this year. Brady’s led them to the AFC’s #1 seed so far despite the fact that New England has the 4th worst defense (373.9 Yds/G) this year. The 40-year-old is first in passing yards (4387), third in touchdowns (30), and second in quarterback rating (104.1). Brady has also had to deal with losing his number one receiver when Julian Edelman went down with a torn ACL. Despite everything that’s gone wrong for the Patriots they still look like the class of the AFC, led by their 40-year-old MVP.

Rusell Wilson:
Rusell Wilson is the Seattle Seahawks this season. He’s thrown 32 touchdowns this year while rushing for another 3. Wilson’s added 550 yards on the ground to go along with 3,762 passing yards. Those are some more than impressive numbers, especially considering that he’s scored all but one of the Seahawks offensive touchdowns this year. Wilson has also been sacked 40 times this year, which is the 4th highest amount this year. That stat perfectly shows how he’s had to create and extend plays with his legs as teams haven’t had to respect their running attack this year. Rusell Wilson deserves some serious MVP consideration this year

Todd Gurley:
Gurley’s 2,093 yards from scrimmage have been incredible this year. He has been the Rams second-leading receiver with 788 yards to go along with 6 touchdowns. His 13 rushing touchdowns and 1,305 rushing yards are both tops in the league. To put his brilliant year into perspective, his game averages would bring yards from scrimmage total to 2,232 yards (if the Rams would let him play next week). In a year where no quarterback has been clear-cut better than the next, this very well could be Gurley’s MVP.

Wentz’s Career Year

Carson Wentz:
Maybe the biggest testament to Wentz’s importance to the Eagles is how they’ve looked since he’s gone down with an injury. The Eagles were able to come back and secure a victory on the road against the Rams. Since that game, the Eagles have struggled offensively. Philadelphia has played against poor defensive teams in back-to-back weeks where they barely squeaked out wins. Perhaps the Eagles recent struggles will show voters how much Wentz truly meant to the team this year. I believe Wentz was the MVP of the league this year. The only issue is that he was unable to finish the season and I’m not sure if 13 games are enough to win him MVP. Pro Football Focus offers more advanced stats to show how brilliant Wentz has been this year: