Why should the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley be a leading candidate for MVP with six games left?

Dig deep into what voting looks like Associated Press NFL awards It’s dropped into the 21st century and you’re bound to have some questions.

For example, here’s one: How did Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson win the 2019 MVP award unanimously but not the league’s Offensive Player of the Year? The second award went to New Orleans wide receiver Michael Thomas, who had a good year but didn’t come close to what Jackson did in the Ravens’ offense.

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Here’s another one: Why has the MVP award become a point guard-only club? It could easily be argued that Christian McCaffrey was more valuable to the 49ers last season than Jackson was to the Ravens, but the award goes to the quarterback. McCaffrey inexplicably came third in the voting. He won the Offensive Player of the Year award, which seemingly became a landing zone for non-quarterbacks to get their praise.

Finally we have this eaglesRelated question: What would happen? Saquon Barkley What do you need to do to win the MVP award?

The answer should be easy: Keep doing what he’s doing.

Through 11 games, Barkley leads the NFL in rushing and yards from scrimmage, the two most important stats for a running back. He is averaging a staggering 6.2 yards per carry and 126.5 yards per game. He also averages 149.9 yards from scrimmage; That’s 24 more yards per play than McCaffrey averaged last season, when he was the MVP of a 49ers team that came this close to winning the Super Bowl.

Before we continue, let’s acknowledge that the ‘V’ in MVP stands for value and this should always be taken into account by those who vote for the award.

Currently, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen is the betting favorite to win the MVP award. According to vegasinsider.com. Jackson is second on the list. The good news for Barkley and the Eagles is that his candidacy later gained a lot of momentum. How did he do against the Rams on Sunday night? in front of a national television audience. The running back is now the betting third favorite.

Eagles quarterback jalen hurts Coming in seventh on the list, Baltimore is behind Derrick Henry and Washington is ranked 11th with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. Like Barkley, Henry left the team he had been with his entire career (Tennessee) and became a game-changing presence elsewhere.

The two star running backs will meet on Sunday when the Eagles and Ravens play in Baltimore in another nationally televised game. This will also give Hurts the opportunity to show how he stacks up against two-time MVP Jackson.

We’ve talked about many great players in the last few paragraphs, but none have been as “valuable” to their teams as Barkley, while also putting up the best offensive numbers possible at his position.

Of course, the Bills wouldn’t be 9-2 in the AFC without Allen, but statistically Jackson is having a better season than him. And of course, Jackson is arguably the best dual-threat quarterback in league history, but Henry’s presence has allowed him to become a better passer.

Barkley, meanwhile, has become the focal point of the Eagles’ offense in his first season. The Eagles are first in the league in offense and last in passing. Although they pass less than any other team in the NFL, they lead the league in rushing and rank third in the league in total yards.

That’s nearly impossible to do in today’s NFL.

But the Eagles are doing this because of Barkley.

It’s been a dozen years since a non-quarterback won the league’s MVP award, and it’s only happened four times in the 21st century. The last person to do this was Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson in 2012. He rushed for 2,097 yards that season, the second-highest total in league history, and he also led the league with 28 touchdowns on 2,314 yards from scrimmage.

Barkley is having a better season than Peterson did that year, except for the scoring part, which can mostly be attributed to the success of the Eagles’ quarterback sneaking toward the goal line. He’s poised to finish with 2,151 yards, which would break Eric Dickerson’s 40-year-old record of 2,105 yards.

He also had 2,548 yards from scrimmage; That would surpass Chris Johnson’s record 2,509 yards rushing against the Tennessee Titans in 2009.

Yes, the NFL is playing one more game now than it did then, but that doesn’t change the fact that what Barkley did this season deserves the MVP award.

Other running backs to win the MVP award this century are LaDainian Tomlinson with the Chargers in 2006, Shaun Alexander with the Seahawks in 2005 and Marshall Faulk with the Rams in 2000.

Of those three, Barkley’s presence on the Eagles is reminiscent of what Faulk brought to the Rams after being traded from the Colts in 1999. He was the player who truly made the Rams the “Greatest Show on Turf” because he always had to. will be factored in, freeing up quarterback Kurt Warner to find receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce.

Faulk, Warner, Holt and Bruce were there to witness the greatness of Saquon Barkley on Sunday night, and current Rams coach Sean McVay accurately recognized what the star running back did to his team during the Eagles’ 37-20 victory at SoFi Stadium.

“He’s as good as a slash runner at being able to handle the edges and then wipe out the angles and finish,” McVay said. “That’s why he had the production that he had, and that’s why he’s arguably had an MVP-type season so far.”

Consider the argument made. As of now, Barkley is the NFL’s MVP.

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Bob Brookover can be reached at: [email protected]