https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/nfl-mvp-might-finally-go-to-someone-other-than-a-qb-this-season--thanks-to-jonathan-taylor-043657916.html
In 2014, then-Houston Texans pass rushing star J.J. Watt put up one of the greatest multi-faceted seasons in NFL history.
Shuttling back and forth between defensive end, defensive tackle and red zone tight end, he scored five touchdowns — three on offense and two on defense — and posted 20 1/2 sacks, 29 tackles for a loss, five fumble recoveries, one interception and one safety. This was a stat line worthy of the gods, never seen before and unlikely to be duplicated. It was a performance so dominant, it led to Watt pulling the rare feat of being voted a first-team All-Pro at both defensive end and defensive tackle.
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Yet, that guy — with that season — still lost to a quarterback in the MVP voting.
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If you trace your finger over the history of the NFL MVP, there’s a good argument that Watt’s 2014 campaign — and second-place finish to then-Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers — is when the award started to shift to becoming a “quarterbacks only” club. Of course, it didn’t feel that way at the time. Three running backs had been voted NFL MVP between 2000 and 2006; then-Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson had just won it in 2012. Sure, quarterbacks tended to be difficult to beat in the race, but it didn’t feel impossible.
Then the drought kicked in. And for the past 12 years, quarterback is the only position that has walked away with an NFL MVP. And it hasn’t ever come particularly close, largely due to the NFL shifting to a full-throttle passing league at a time that coincided with a golden era of QBs. Then came last season, when Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley had 2,283 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns in only 16 games, which was just good enough to finish third in MVP voting behind Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
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That sparked a multitude of conversations, all centering on a similar question: If Barkley finished third in voting despite playing on the league’s best team and posting a 2,005 yard rushing line (while sitting out Week 18), what on Earth does a non-quarterback have to do to win the league’s MVP?
Is it even possible anymore?
Through eight weeks, Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor is providing the answer.
Yes. It’s possible.
Coming off the heels of the Colts’ 38-14 trouncing of the Tennessee Titans, Taylor should be taking some significant strides up the boards that project MVP odds. Certainly enough to showcase that he’s a real threat to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, Los Angeles Rams’ Matthew Stafford or Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield.
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For full disclosure, I hold one of the 50 Associated Press votes for the league’s MVP award. Last season, I slotted Barkley third behind Allen and Jackson. The reason? What Barkley did over the expanse of the season was great, but he was undercut by all the tush push attempts that snatched touchdowns out of his hands. And he wasn’t able to break the league’s rushing record in 16 games, which was the same number of games in which former Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson set during the 1984 season. Barkley was also running up against spectacular quarterbacking seasons by Allen and Jackson. What Barkley accomplished was undeniably great. But to push aside great QB seasons, a skill position player has to do something that is simply different than anything we’ve seen over an expanse of decades.
Through eight games, Taylor is doing that. And that’s why I think he’d garner some of the most serious consideration we’ve seen in recent years for a running back MVP.
Consider Taylor’s résumé coming out of Week 8:
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Taylor is the unquestioned centerpiece of a Colts franchise that has the league’s best record at 7-1
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He leads the league in rushing with 850 yards and is on pace to rush for 1,806 yards in 17 games. He also leads all skill position players with 14 total touchdowns (12 rushing and two receiving), putting him on pace for 29 total touchdowns. The NFL record is 31, set by former San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006 — which earned him the league’s MVP that season. Taylor is also on pace for 2,244 total yards from scrimmage
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In advanced data from Next Gen Stats, Taylor entered Week 8 leading the NFL with 120 rushing yards over expected and 509 yards after contact. Both are indicative of him generating yardage rather than just producing by way of his offensive line. And amongst multiple sites that track deep analytics, Taylor is also near the top of the league in total EPA, EPA per rush and success rate
When you tally the yardage and touchdown projections across the board, the numbers compare extremely favorably to all three of the running backs that have won the MVP in the last 20 years, including Shaun Alexander (2005), Tomlinson (2006) and Peterson (2012). Simply put, if Taylor stays on this pace, his statistical performance holds its own with all of the best running back seasons of the last two decades.
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To MVP voters, that’s a start. Before you get into the litany of criteria that differ from one voter to the next, you first have to at least come to the conclusion that he stacks up with historic MVPs at his position. After that, each voter has their own set of standards — a reality that often leads to debate or even the occasional oddity of what unfolded last season, when some voters chose Allen as the first-place finisher on their MVP ballot, but placed Jackson as their first-team All-Pro quarterback.
I wasn’t in that group, but I heard some of the explanations from those who were and found them to be convincing enough to make it a possibility. With Taylor, this is likely to shake out in a much more straightforward fashion.
Is he the best running back on a team with the league’s best record? Did his statistical résumé place him in the same range as past running back MVPs? Was he the consistent driving force and centerpiece for the Colts’ offense? And did he show up when the franchise needed him most — like, say, the Nov. 23 game in Kansas City and Dec. 14 game in Seattle?
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There’s also the curveball that has nothing to do with all those questions. And that’s this: Does a quarterback rise up out of the fog of parity across the league and dominate the remainder of the season?
Time will tell, as it did with Barkley in 2024. But right now, today, Taylor is a real threat in that MVP race. And if his second half of 2025 is a mirror image of the first, the quarterback party is going to get rudely interrupted.
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/nfl-mvp-might-finally-go-to-someone-other-than-a-qb-this-season--thanks-to-jonathan-taylor-043657916.html
