NFL MVP rankings after 5 weeks

Assani Fisher · #1 10-10-2006, 04:47 PM

Disclaimed: This is a list of who I think SHOULD be MVP not who WOULD be MVP.

1. Champ Bailey: Yes, I realize that he has practically no shot to win it because he won't put up stats since teams go away from him so much. But his play has been absolutely insane so far this year. Before this Monday's game SSOG wrote the following over at footballguys:

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Claim #1- Cornerback is the most important position in the NFL. That's not what *I* think, that's what the NFL GMs think. There isn't a single position in the league where the studs are paid more money than stud CBs, which means that the GMs have spoken. They have voted with their wallets, and they say that stud CBs are the most valuable players in the entire NFL (as evidenced by the fact that they're willing to devote a larger portion of their cap to a single CB than to any other position in the league).

Claim #2- INTs and tackles and such are nice, but a Cornerback's primary job is to prevent the guy he's covering from getting the ball. That's it, plain and simple. Nobody in the league has prevented the guy he was covering from getting the ball more than Champ Bailey has.

Short and sweet conclusion: If a guy is having the single best season at the single most important position, he should get MVP consideration, plain and simple.

If you want a more detailed arguement about how ridiculous Champ Bailey has been during his 3-game span here...

Champ Bailey has gone up against some of the best players in the league. He's faced Torry Holt, Tony Gonzalez, Isaac Bruce, Ben Watson, Tom Brady, Marc Bulger, etc. In those games, he has been challenged, by my count, SEVEN TIMES. The longest completion against him was for 8 yards. If he keeps up that pace, he will have 37 balls thrown in his direction over the entire season. THIRTY SEVEN. Deion Sanders in his PRIME never shut down his side of the field so effectively, and Deion Sanders didn't have to deal with the new rule emphasis. If that was the end of it, I would have to argue that this was probably the greatest season any CB has ever had in the history of the NFL... but that's not all. Champ Bailey has also been an absolute monster in run support (you could make an open-field tackling training video out of his take-downs on Steven Jackson and Larry Johnson, two of the hardest backs in the league to tackle). And not only has he been facing so few passes, he's also been shutting down the passes he HAS faced, not giving up more than 8 yards so far. Personally, I feel that this pace is absolutely, positively unsustainable... but if he did manage to sustain this pace, it might just be the greatest season any player at any position has ever had. Ever. He probably wouldn't have many INTs, but that's because he only would have been challenged *THIRTY SEVEN* times.

I could also argue that MVPs alter gameplans- both yours, and your opponents. Bailey has very clearly done that. Denver has played most of the season with 8 in the box because they know they can leave Champ in 1-on-1 with no help and he'll do just fine. His presence completely changes Denver's gameplan. It's also very clear that his presence changes the opposition's gameplan. Tom Brady didn't even bother to look in Champ Bailey's direction. It's abundantly clear that New England's plan was to throw to whoever Bailey wasn't covering. I'd even go so far as to say that Brady was playing scared, possibly spooked from the INT in the playoffs last year. Marc Bulger was extremely skittish, too- the only passes he threw to Holt when Bailey was in coverage were a pair of 6-yard outs short of the sticks. He had one of the best WRs in the entire NFL and he didn't even challenge Bailey. Either way, you'd be hard-pressed to find a player who altered the other team's game-plan as thoroughly as Bailey has through three weeks.

Now, I expect Bailey to come back to earth over the rest of the season. There's pretty much no way in hell that he can keep this up, or that teams will remain so afraid to even test his side of the field for the rest of the year. I mean, it's hard to tell if he's even playing that well, because other teams simply will not throw in his direction. Eventually, someone will be stupid enough to challenge him. I just think, as well as he's played, if the MVP trophy was awarded tomorrow, Bailey would have to be at the top of the list.

Champ Bailey is having one of those seasons that proves that CBs are at their absolute best when they're completely invisible.

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2. Donovan McNabb: With the soft schedule I hesitate to give him too much credit. He'll obviously have to prove himself over the second 1/2 of the season. But through 5 games he has a 107.2 rating, 1602 passing yards, 11 passing TDs, 1 INT, 87 rushing yards adn 3 rushing TDs. That averages out to about 5200 passing yards, 35 passing TDs, 3 INTs, 275 rushing yards, and 10 rushing TDs...insane numbers.

3. Tommie Harris: Best player on the best team so far. Playing as well as Warren Sapp ever played in his prime imo.

I won't add comments for the rest, but here it is:

4. Rex Grossman
5. Bart Scott
6. Peyton Manning
7. Drew Brees
8. Mike Vick
9. Steve Smith
10. Clinton Portis

Note that the last two are hurt by their missing 2 games. Otherwise I'd expect them to be higher. However their impact was clearly seen by their teams' play with and without them.

Fallen Hero · #2 10-10-2006, 04:52 PM

Manning at 6?

Case Closed · #3 10-10-2006, 05:06 PM

I love the bears and sexy rexy, but Grossman over Manning is pretty bad IMO.

holeplug · #4 10-10-2006, 05:09 PM

I assume he meant corner is the most valuable position on defense?

TheNoodleMan · #5 10-10-2006, 05:14 PM

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I assume he meant corner is the most valuable position on defense?

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I would have to assume so since CB aren't making more than QBs.

Spellmen · #6 10-10-2006, 05:14 PM

Do top corners make more than top QBs or RBs? Does Champ Bailey make more than Manning or Alexander?

TheNoodleMan · #7 10-10-2006, 05:16 PM

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Do top corners make more than top QBs or RBs? Does Champ Bailey make more than Manning or Alexander?

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NFL Salary Database

The Don · #8 10-10-2006, 05:22 PM

LTs and QBs make the most. Corners are probably third.

RedBean · #9 10-10-2006, 05:49 PM

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Claim #1- Cornerback is the most important position in the NFL. That's not what *I* think, that's what the NFL GMs think. There isn't a single position in the league where the studs are paid more money than stud CBs, which means that the GMs have spoken. They have voted with their wallets, and they say that stud CBs are the most valuable players in the entire NFL (as evidenced by the fact that they're willing to devote a larger portion of their cap to a single CB than to any other position in the league).

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The Top 5 paid players are QB, QB, LT, LT, and QB.

Out of the top 25 paid players in the NFL, only two of them are CB's.

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Claim #2- INTs and tackles and such are nice, but a Cornerback's primary job is to prevent the guy he's covering from getting the ball. That's it, plain and simple. Nobody in the league has prevented the guy he was covering from getting the ball more than Champ Bailey has.

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Bailey currently ranks behind 75+ other defensive backs in the league so far in "Passes Defensed".

Granted, that is not the end-all measurement of statistics for defensive backs, but it is telling in that it records the times a Defensive back took an active role in defending the pass, ie....he swatted it away. Bailey is behind 75+ other gentlemen in that department.

To say he has actively prevented more passes from getting to his recievers that anyone else just simply isn't true.

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Short and sweet conclusion: If a guy is having the single best season at the single most important position, he should get MVP consideration, plain and simple.

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Conclusion being that whoever posted those points did so out of opinion and seemingly made up statistics to support them hoping no one would actually look.

Pudge714 · #10 10-10-2006, 06:29 PM

RedBean,
Champ shouldn't the MVP however pass defensed is a really bad stat for the same reason errors are a bad stat in baseball. They are subjective based on each individual stat keeper, and different players have different oppurtunities.

Assani,

CB probably the third most important position in the NFL behind LT and QB. Rex Grossman ahead of Peyton is wrong IMO. Steve Smith and Clinton Portis have had serious playing time in 60% of the games all season. They cannot be considered for the MVP unless they play more IMO.