The NFL will announce the winner of this season’s Most Valuable Player in just a few weeks, and most people agree that the race is coming down to Drake Maye of the New England Patriots and Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other players who should at least be in the conversation for MVP. Myles Garrett, for example, just had a historic season with the Cleveland Browns, and Seth Walder of ESPN stated that he deserves to be considered an MVP candidate.
On his list, he ranked Garrett as the 10th pick for MVP and explained that his defensive game, his place in history, and his ability to overcome imposing opponents make him worthy of that position.
“The Browns had only five wins this season, but Garrett certainly held up more than his fair share of the bargain with his record 23 sacks. His pass-rushing numbers were actually just behind those of a couple of other players on a down-to-down basis. Garrett’s pass rush win rate of 20.6% ranked fifth best among all players, and he finished third in total pass rush wins behind Micah Parsons and Will Anderson Jr. Garrett also finished fourth in sacks created — a metric that credits the first player to beat their blocker on a play that ultimately ended in a sack — with 15.0. But Garrett was either double-teamed or chipped on 39.5% of his pass rushes this season, per NFL Next Gen Stats, more than any other edge rusher. Plus, the 23 sacks were undeniable, so Garrett deserves his top-10 spot,” Walder wrote.
Garrett now holds the league’s single-season sack record, and he is probably on his way to being the easy winner of Defensive Player of the Year. Still, he isn’t getting much notice as a potential MVP.
It seems that the NFL is determined to name a quarterback as MVP, which would obviously leave Garrett out of the running. Beyond that, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Browns only racked up five wins this season.
If Cleveland had won more games, there is a chance more people would be talking about Garrett. But even with a place in the history books, Garrett still isn’t close to being an MVP. Being named in the top 10 on this list is a high honor, of course, but it probably won’t convert into him actually having a chance of being Most Valuable Player.
Many Cleveland fans are rolling their eyes at the fact that Garrett isn’t competing with Maye, Stafford, and others for MVP, but they are happy he had such an explosive season and hope he can build on it even more next year with a more capable Browns squad around him.
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