Lamar Jackson will very likely be the NFL’s 2024 MVP.
Should he be?
As it tends to inherently be, the MVP debate has been a spirited one this season. Jackson, who’s already won the award twice, seems sure to be anointed anew on the heels of what was – statistically anyway – the greatest campaign of his seven-season career, albeit aided and abetted by a loaded roster that welcomed running back Derrick Henry to the fold. Yet should the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen, whose numbers don’t quite measure up to Jackson’s, get the hardware? Allen, after all, just about neutralized his longstanding penchant for turnovers while largely carrying a team that was stripped of talent in 2024 due to its bloated salary cap.
(Also, given what we’ve seen this weekend, maybe the merits of cases posed by the Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley and Washington Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels should be re-examined. And if you could have any player in the league to build around, what are the chances you’re not taking Patrick Mahomes?)
Granted, this is really more a thought exercise than fervent debate on behalf of any of these deserving candidates. The hay’s in the barn, as they say, voting for the MVP award by the Associated Press’ 50-person panel closing on Jan. 8, just days before the playoffs began. (And, yes, I have a ballot but, no, I won’t – and can’t – presently reveal my choice.) However Jackson has already been announced as the first-team All-Pro quarterback – appointed as such by the same group of voters, which is a very strong indication he’ll also be the MVP.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
Back to the original question here. I’m not so much questioning Jackson’s candidacy – and he was awesome this season – because I don’t think he’s worthy. It’s more a creeping sentiment that maybe this award – and MVP honors across all leagues generally – shouldn’t be limited by the bounds of a regular season. I mean, by definition, won’t a “most valuable player” have his team in the mix to compete for a championship? The last NFL MVP whose team didn’t qualify for the playoffs was … O.J. Simpson. In 1973. Which isn’t to say, for example, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow shouldn’t have been eligible this season but, all due respect to his supporters (looking at you, Troy Aikman), did Burrow really belong in the conversation?
MVPs ought to be authenticated by titles – or at least be in the area code to get one. Right? Tom Brady and Michael Jordan should have at least 10 league MVPs apiece. (Seven-time Super Bowl winner Brady has three. Six-time NBA champion Jordan has five. Heresy.) But by my own suggested definition, it would be fine to honor the likes of Charles Barkley or Karl Malone or Matt Ryan or Cam Newton or Adrian Peterson – or, heck, Aaron Rodgers – for excellence even if their teams ultimately fell short of the brass ring. (Worth noting, though, that all four of Rodgers’ MVPs were awarded after he won his lone Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 2010 season … which makes such recognition feel a bit emptier in retrospect? Maybe?)
Back to Jackson and the NFL, which is distinct from other major North American sports leagues given its single-elimination postseason format. I was in Baltimore during the 2019 playoffs, which commenced after a magical year for the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens and Jackson, who would win his first MVP. Yet the team got its doors blown off by the sixth-seeded Titans – and Henry, then with Tennessee, was quite obviously the best player on the field that night. Jackson didn’t come close to fulfilling his MVP billing in last year’s AFC championship game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, either.
And, to a lesser degree, it happened again Sunday, Jackson turning the ball over twice in a game for the first time this season. Maybe he was still the best player on the field in Western New York, but he most certainly wasn’t the best of the NFL weekend. To his credit, Jackson put a critical spotlight on himself.
“I had two costly turnovers,’ he said after his playoff record dropped to 3-5. ‘Threw a (expletive) interception.
‘Protecting the ball, that’s the number one priority. And we didn’t do it – especially me, I’m the leader. I’ve got to protect the ball, you know? So I’m hot.’
Jackson is worthy of so many superlatives and should probably already be considered the greatest dual-threat quarterback in NFL history. But should a player who’s never reached Super Sunday and consistently performs shy of his capabilities when his team needs him the most be a multiple MVP winner? (If Jackson does indeed win it, he’ll be the seventh three-time NFL MVP – but the only one among that group without a championship.)
Again, this isn’t a critique of a luminary like Jackson but more a rumination that these awards are not actually representative of what they’re supposed to be. The Ravens’ latest failure underscores that – and, yes, Jackson almost brought them all the way back even though it clearly wasn’t the best performance by him … or poor tight end Mark Andrews.
Still, juxtapose that with Allen, who once again did precisely what was needed while helping the Bills advance to the AFC championship game. His numbers were modest (127 yards passing, 20 yards and a pair of TDs rushing), but the result certainly wasn’t.
‘Josh Allen is the MVP. I’m tired of all (the talk). Josh Allen is the MVP,’ Bills Pro Bowl left tackle Dion Dawkins told NFL Network after the victory.
‘The Buffalo Bills are one step closer.’
Meanwhile, earlier Sunday, Barkley hung a 200-yard, two-TD rushing day on the Los Angeles Rams for the second time this season and decisively showed that the MVP should not be solely the purview of quarterbacks.
“He’s the best in the world,” Philly wideout A.J. Brown said of Barkley earlier this season.
As for Daniels? It’s impressive enough that he’s the first Washington quarterback to ever engineer multiple wins on the road in the same postseason. Yet that pales in comparison to his huge role in resuscitating a franchise that’s been dormant – at best – during the preceding three decades. How should he not get further consideration as the most valuable performer in the league this season when he’s put a team (and city) on his back – particularly if he becomes the first rookie to lead a team to the Super Bowl?
Guess it depends on what you truly value when defining “most valuable.”
All NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.
***
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.