When you’re a former gridiron gladiator, it isn’t easy to stay out of football-themed conversations, especially when they pertain to an award that you yourself have won. If you need an example, look no further than Cam Newton.
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The former Carolina Panther claimed the 2015 regular season MVP award after amassing 4,473 offensive scrimmage yards and 45 total touchdowns for the Carolina Panthers. That may seem like ancient history, but it still adds an air of legitimacy to his claims about the award. And according to the man himself, none of the current betting favorites actually deserve to win this year’s trophy.
In fact, Newton isn’t siding with any offensive players at all. Instead, he believes that it is time to finally recognize the fact that “Myles Garret is playing out of his mind right now.” In alluding to the fact that “all he needs is one sack” to break the NFL’s all-time regular season record, the former face of the Panthers seemed to suggest that Garrett is simply undeniable right now.
“A single-season sack record, which has been held by the likes of Michael Strahan, Lawrence Taylor, these are great players. Like, you just can’t bypass that. It feels like every week we talk about the MVP frontrunner,” Newton said, before adding, “We got the Drake Maye whispers, you got the Matthew Stafford whispers, you had Jonathan Taylor at one point… And they start realizing that, hey, bruh, it’s hard to do what ol’ Myles Garrett is doing.”
Should the voters side with Newton’s take, then the pride and joy of the Cleveland Browns’ defense would become just the third defensive player in NFL history to win the regular-season MVP award. The first-ever defensive player to win the award was Alan Page, who received his trophy following the 1971 season, in which he recorded two safeties, three fumble recoveries, and nine sacks.
Unfortunately for all of our defenders out there, the last time that one of them won an MVP award was back in 1986, and it was the aforementioned Lawrence Taylor, who, to this day, is still regarded as one of, if not the, greatest outside linebacker in the history of professional football.
Lawrence recorded 20.5 sacks that season, easily the most by any player in the league, and that was still when 20.5 sacks seemed like a phenomenon. However, Garret has already eclipsed him with his current season total of 22.
That total puts Garrett in a four-way tie for the third-most single-season sacks of all time. Although the reigning record of 22.5 sacks, which is shared by J.J. Watt and the aforementioned New York Giants, Michael Strahan, is well within reach.
Considering the number of question marks that are plaguing every signal caller’s stat sheet right now, as well as the unprecedented nature of Garrett’s performance, perhaps Newton’s suggestion isn’t that far-fetched after all. And when you throw in the fact that the prolific pass rusher is already a -20000 favorite to take home the Defensive Player of the Year award, you can begin to see how this year’s award ceremony could end up being nothing more than the Myles Garrett show.
