With nearly one-third of the NFL season now completed, discussions about this year’s MVP have begun. With big names like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson not at their flawless best, the race for the coveted award is wide open.
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Revered analyst Nick Wright, who occasionally goes by his stage name “Nickstradamus,” echoed this sentiment as he evaluated some early MVP contenders in the latest edition of What’s Wright with Nick Wright.
Nick started off with RB Derrick Henry, who has had a stellar start to the season with 704 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 6 receptions for the Ravens in just six starts. If his body holds up, he looks to be set for yet another 2000-yard season.
While a statistic like this should ideally make him one of the favorites for the title, Nick noted that back in 2020, the star running back received zero MVP votes, despite his influential 2000-yard season for the Titans.
Considering this precedent having been set, Nick wasn’t sure what to make of the RB’s prospects, although he was positive for him.
“You run for 2,000 yards, you carry the Titans to the playoffs and you got zero MVP votes?… That’s a tough spot… But typically 2,000 yard season gets you in the MVP conversation, so I could see him winning it.”
The player that Nick was particularly confident about, however, was Derrick’s teammate, Lamar Jackson. The analyst argued that if passing performance wasn’t going to be factored in, Lamar’s 10 TDs, 2 INTs, and 1,529 yards in 6 games give the Ravens’ signal-caller a strong chance of winning it all.
However, the leading analyst countered this point by noting that defending MVP winners usually find it tough to sway the voters, so this might be a factor against Lamar’s odds, according to Nick.
“If pass performance wasn’t factored into it, right now it’d be Lamar. But it would be Lamar’s third MVP. He won it last year, there’s the playoff baggage [too] like each MVP is harder to win than the previous one historically.”
As for Patrick Mahomes, his early season blues is not news anymore for fans. Despite this, the Chiefs being undefeated with a weak receiver room keeps Mahomes in the race, argued “Nickstradamus.”
These names, however, aren’t the only ones that Wright believes has a shot at the MVP title this season.
Who else is in contention for the NFL MVP Award?
Nick noted that Texans star CJ Stroud is “very alive” in the MVP race, especially considering that he has identical stats as Lamar with just 2 interceptions more than the Ravens quarterback.
The analyst also threw in a wildcard pick in rookie Jayden Daniels, who has had a standout season so far. Wright, however, warned the rookie to focus on making the “Offensive Rookie of the Year” award his own as Caleb Williams is getting back into his groove.
“Jayden right now is very alive but Jayden’s got to worry about not only not winning MVP but not winning Offensive Rookie of the Year because Caleb is coming.”
The last pick from Nick was perhaps the most underrated of the bunch: Baker Mayfield. The Bucs star currently leads the league in touchdowns. Although his passing can definitely improve compared to his peers, he is putting up the points, which is all that matters.
With so many names in the running, the race to NFL MVP of the year is shaping up to be very unpredictable. The fact that the likes of Brock Purdy, Aaron Rodgers, and Jordan Love can enter this list with a couple of strong performances further stirs up this pot. Therefore, we have an exciting race shaping up in the upcoming weeks!
