For most of the NFL season, there has been a two horse race for the coveted Most Valuable Player award between Kansas City front man Pat Mahomes and New Orleans legend Drew Brees. Some media pundits in the sports world believe that any of the Rams’ trio of Goff-Donald-Gurley should have their name thrown in the ring. There are those on the other side of Los Angeles who believe Phillip Rivers needs some shine that he has never received before. Some believe Andrew Lucks’ season working with nothing but TY Hilton should garner him some votes.
However in realistic world, the race is only between Mahomes and Brees. Let’s get into some of the numbers that will be looked at when deciding this award.
The Chiefs sit atop the AFC West at 11-2, with a one game lead on the surging Chargers. Brees and the Saints are comfortably at 11-2 with a five game lead on the Panthers in the NFC South. Many people don’t believe that it should, but team success matters in the individual awards, who wants to see a player put up empty numbers on a losing team?
Pat Mahomes is leading the NFL in passing yards with 4,300 yards and has already thrown for 43 touchdowns with 11 touchdowns. Drew Brees is sitting at 3,463 yards and has thrown for 31 touchdowns with only 4 interceptions on the season.
It is a bit unfair to the more traditional quarterbacks like Brees, but rushing stats have to be taking into account in the modern NFL. Mahomes has rushed for 235 yards this year along with two touchdowns, while Brees has rushed for a measly 25 yards on the year but surprisingly has 4 touchdowns on the ground.
Brees has always been able to hang his hat on his completion percentage, which is at an all time great 75.7% this year. Mahomes has completed 66.8% of his passes this year which is still very impressive, but doesn’t come close to Brees’ record setting pace. A record that he currently owns the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th spots in.
One area that I personally believe benefits Brees is the fact he doesn’t not have as strong of a receiving core. Michael Thomas is a stud, but Brees’ next best options are his two running backs who are both great, but they are tailbacks. Then comes Tre’Quan Smith, and older Ben Watson, and Josh Hill. I know, right? Who?
The reason a weaker supporting cast supports Brees is because he is playing at such an elite level with less. I know Mahomes lost a top back in Hunt who was still present for 12 weeks, but the trio of Hill, Kelce, and Watkins make up the best receiving core in the league. They also just claimed Kelvin Benjamin off waivers hoping to revive his career.
Overall, the stats are fairly comparable but who should win the award? There are arguments for both sides, but leave some comments below on your thoughts on the MVP race.
