NFL’s MVP: Who We Got?

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Blacklisted

6 min readJan 18, 2017

The Blacklisted crew each select their favorite candidate for the MVP, some of which are unconventional. But who cares? Analysts get on TV talkin’ jus to talk. We figured we could do the same.

Read through and check out insights, when finished comment on your personal selections below!

Khayri’s Pick: Tom Brady, New England Patriots

67.4% Comp | 3,554 Yds | 28 TDs | 2 INT’s | 112.2 Pass Rate | 83.1 QBR

Brady! Brady! Brady! Brady! Love him or hate him Tom Terrific is back in the MVP talk for the 2016 season. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Brady missed 4 games to start the year serving his deflate-gate suspension. Was the suspension overdone? It probably was but that’s neither here nor there. He was wrong and served the time. After serving his suspension, Brady came back to the Patriots and was nearly perfect. Boasting an 11–1 record and tossing 28 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions. That is now the best touchdown-interception ratio in league history. At 39, Brady has continued to show no signs of slowing down. The two main cases against Brady are that: he plays for a juggernaut that went 3–1 without him and he missed a quarter of the season. Yes, the Patriots did go 3–1 without Brady with the likes of Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett at the helm, but they did so with very watered down schemes. Brady returned and was all but unstoppable. This shouldn’t even be a conversation, with the rest of the field having a 4 game head start. Instead of holding his 4 games against him I think it should be the very reason he wins the award. 4 less games and in many circles, at the age of 39, Tom Brady is leading the MVP discussion. Ladies and gentlemen your 2016 NFL League MVP, Tom BRADY!

Jeff’s Pick: Ezekiel Elliot, Dallas Cowboys

322 Carries | 1631 Yards | 5.1 YPC | 15 TDs |363 Rec | 1 Rec TD

#FeedZeke: The Cowboys have tied their best regular season record of 13–3. And boy has Zeke been eating!

Much has been overstated about the incredible offensive line, but he’s exponentially bested the production of the Cowboy’s 2015 leading rusher, Darren McFadden in every rushing category.

Clutch Factor: Zeke set the Cowboys rookie rushing yards record held by Emmitt Smith and is the driving force behind this offense. If you watch the games, you will notice, that even after initial contact, he’s making pivotal plays and extending runs. The stats speak for themselves, but the touchdowns are where he really sets himself a part. Zeke is scoring late in games. After the first few games, it was almost expected that he would have a game breaking run!

Ryan’s Pick: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons

When discussing MVP candidates, there are two enduring schools of thought. Those who believe that the MVP should be the best player and those who more literally, think in terms of value. I prefer my MVP candidate to represent the intersection of both. That’s why there’s only one right answer for the 2016 season: Matt Ryan. Sure there are other candidates (Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Zeke Elliott/Dak Prescott) but each of them has a major reason why they need not apply. For starters, Tom Brady. Brady missed the first 4 games in which his team went 3–1, starting a combination of Jimmy Garrapolo and Jacoby Brisset. Who? Exactly. The Patriots machine is built to sustain a loss at any position, even quarterback. Which is a testament to Bill Belichick’s unquestioned greatness as coach. We’ve seen Brady miss an entire season (the 2008 season) and the Patriots went 11–5 with the tragically unremarkable Matt Cassel. Looking beyond that, this season the Patriots lead the league in scoring defense, surrendering only 15.7 ppg. This means the degree of difficulty for Brady wasn’t exactly very high. So, great season? Yes. But his case is sorely lacking when it comes to value.

Aaron Rodgers has been red hot over the past 6 games. The Packers are 6–0 during that stretch, fresh off winning the division on Sunday night and finishing 10–6. But look deeper…that means the Packers were 4–6 at one point. Rodgers was terrible through the first 10 games, which required them to run the table to get into this position. Sorry, but if you stink up the joint for half the season you can’t be my MVP.

“If you got two quarterbacks, you don’t have one.” This quote is one of the few sports cliches that rings true, nearly 100% of the time. So, what does that have to do with this? I submit to you that if you have two MVP candidates, you don’t have one. How can you have two players competing for “most”? If you remove one, you’d still have an MVP candidate. In the case of the other candidates (outside of Tom Brady) if you remove them and replace them with an average starter, their team is significantly worse. If you replace either Dak or Zeke with an average starter, how far do the Cowboys fall? Rhetorical, don’t answer that. The sky is undoubtedly the limit for these two, but in 2016 neither is your MVP.

Finally on to the (should be) MVP, Matt Ryan. He checks all the boxes: team success, individual success, degree of difficulty, and value. I could throw his stats out (38 TDs, 7 Ints, 4944 yards, 117.1 QB rating) but his case is even simpler. The Falcons were 25th in total defense (yards given up) and 27th in scoring defense (25.4 ppg). What does this mean? Well, it means the Falcons were in a shoot out nearly every week. They needed “Matty Ice” to put up big numbers to have a chance to win and he did. Over and over. So much so that the Falcons clinched the NFC’s #2 seed and a first round bye, behind only the Cowboys. Needing nearly a full 10 points more than Tom Brady, besting Aaron Rodgers in both consistency and team success, and leaving no question about his value, he should be the 2016 NFL MVP.

Shawn’s Pick: Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts

IN ANDREW’S DEFENSE: Ok… if we are basing MVP on stats and wins, NO WAY Andrew should be considered for this award, I am fully aware of that. BUT if we are going to give this award to the player who is TRULY most valuable to their franchise, you’d be a fool not to include #12 for the Horseshoe. The Colts organization is arguably the most toxic environment in the NFL. Andrew Luck had to overcome a pill popping Owner in Jim Irsay, an incompetent GM in Ryan Grigson, the Human Liability known as Head Coach Chuck Pagano, statistically the worst Defense in Colts history and a mediocre Offensive Line (allowed 41 sacks). Despite this, Luck posted his best NFL season and won 8 games. You remove Luck, with this kind of organizational dysfunction the Colts would have threatened the Browns to go 0–16 this season. Andrew Luck is the TRUE meaning of MVP for the NFL and a Savior for a Colts franchise who does not deserve it.

DT’s Pick: Khalil Mack, Oakland Raiders

73 Tackles | 11 Sacks | 5 Forced Fumbles | 96 QB pressures | 12 Wins

After being All-Pro at two positions last year, Mack had an extremely slow start to his season sacks-wise (recording just 1 in the first half of the season). He was no longer Oakland’s “secret weapon” but now the focal point of their defense. Despite primarily facing double teams, Mack led the NFL in QB pressures with 96. Just in the latter 8 games of the Raiders’ season in which, they were trying to clinch their division and a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs, Mack recorded 10 sacks, five forced fumbles, a touchdown, and an interception. The Oakland Raiders are a Super Bowl contender this year (unbelievable to say out loud), Mack has dominated, and is the best player on the team. It is time for the MVP award to go defense again for the first time in almost 30 years.