There have been a lot of great seasons from players across the NFL on both sides of the ball that are MVP worthy but none as ridiculous as the season Todd Gurley is having.
Last season Gurley had an insane season with 21 total touchdowns and 2093 total yards from the line of scrimmage. He won offensive player of the year last season but lost to Tom Brady for MVP. This year he is on pace for 2185 total yards from the line of scrimmage and 32 total touchdowns.
He most likely won’t achieve the touchdown number because everyone has down games and that’s a touchdown rate that is hard to keep but that is an offense that will continue to succeed because of him, the offensive line, the receivers, and the quarterback Jared Goff, and as long as the offense is moving the ball he’ll have plenty of chances to score and improve that touchdown total and yard total. I think the 2185 total yards is possible and even though he most likely won’t get 32 touchdowns I do think he’ll beat his 21 from last year.
Quarterbacks usually take this position because they get all the glory in the game of football, and there are a few that are performing at a MVP level. Mahomes for the Chiefs is lighting every opponent up and has been almost unstoppable. Matt Ryan for the Atlanta Falcons and old reliable Philip Rivers for the Los Angeles Chargers have also been playing at an MVP level. Of these three quarterbacks only Mahomes is on pace for unprecedented statistics and between him and Gurley I still think Gurley’s numbers are more impressive. Both are the focal points of their respective offenses and both are members of high powered offenses. Also in defense of Mahomes over Gurley the Chiefs offensive line is not as good as the Rams so that makes what Mahomes does even more impressive.
That being said if Mahomes ends with 50+ touchdowns that’s crazy and tough to do but can be done again especially with how the NFL is today being a passing dominated league. If Gurley gets that 32 or even over 21 and the 2185 yards that is a lot harder to repeat for a runningback especially the touchdowns.
Then there are candidates for this award that are the reasons there teams are doing well because they are the lone or one of the only bright spots of their offenses. Guys like Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Saquon Barkley, and Ezekiel Elliot, but as Sports Illustrated Andy Benoit says, “Who is more valuable, a player in an imperfect machine who makes that machine productive (think Aaron Rodgers or Ezekiel Elliott), or a player like Gurley, who is fortunate in that he operates in a “perfect” machine, but is perhaps that machine’s main component?” I say the perfect machines main component because maybe the Rams would still have a winning record without Gurley because they have so much talent but they wouldn’t be undefeated.
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