MAHOMES is the MAN IN BREAKOUT NFL SEASON
Chiefs’ dynamic QB gets nod as league’s mid-year MVP
It’s Week 9 in the NFL. Most teams (19 of 32) have played at least half the schedule.
So we’re at the midway point. For the fifth consecutive year, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock has shared with Postmedia his choices, and reasons, for the leading contenders in the race for the league’s major awards. Namely: overall MVP, offensive MVP, defensive MVP, top rookies on offence and defence and comeback player. Mayock played briefly in 1981 as a defensive back with the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts before playing with the NFL’s New York Giants for two years. He cut his broadcasting teeth in the 1990s with ESPN on CFL telecasts, and today serves as an analyst on Westwood One’s radio broadcasts of marquee NFL games, which air on TSN stations. Mayock is primarily known as the NFL Network’s chief predraft analyst. He’s widely regarded as a bar-setter in assessing incoming draft talent, top to bottom, as he is as plugged into the thoughts and assessments of the league’s top talent evaluators as anyone in the media.
Patrick Mahomes, quarterback, Kansas City Chiefs
2nd year, age 23
Season synopsis: After mostly watching from the bench a year ago behind Alex Smith, Mahomes has burst onto the NFL scene as few first-year starters have. He leads the league in touchdown passes (26) and passing yards (2,526), is fourth in efficiency rating (115.3) and fifth in yards per attempt (8.86). And Mahomes’ touchdowns-tointerceptions ratio is 26 to 6. The Chiefs own the best record in the AFC (7-1) largely because of him. MAYOCK: “When he got drafted by Kansas City a year ago, I thought, ‘What a great place for him to go.’ (Head coach) Andy Reid is quarterback friendly and Mahomes gets a chance to sit behind Alex Smith — who’s a consummate professional — for a year. And he needed that.
“He had the most explosive package of talent you could see coming out of Texas Tech — big arm, athletic, baseball/football, competitor, leader, smart — but he was all over the place. You knew one of two things was gonna happen with every snap in college: something really, really good was about to happen, or something really, really bad. And I give Andy a ton of credit for mostly getting rid of the bad. He’s helping the young kid make good decisions, pocket decisions, when to throw, when to throw it away. “K.C. has a 7-1 record with as explosive an offence as there is in football. There will be a lot of people talking about Todd Gurley and Jared Goff of the Rams for MVP, and that’s justified, too. The Rams are undefeated. Gurley’s on a ridiculous pace right now, which helps Goff. But if you told me I had one vote right now, it’d probably be Mahomes.”
Todd Gurley, running back,
Los Angeles Rams
4th year, age 24
Season synopsis: Gurley stood out last year in the high-powered Rams attack of head coach Sean McVay, leading the team in rushing yards and rushing TDs (1,305 yards and 13) and receptions and receiving yards (64 and 788, for six TDs). Gurley is even better in 2018. He leads the league in carries (169), rushing yards (800), rushing TDs (11), first downs gained rushing (44), total yards from scrimmage (1,151) and total TDs (15).
MAYOCK: “Yeah, I think he has taken his game to a higher level. Right now if you projected him out, he’d finish the season with 2,200/2,300 scrimmage yards, and 29 or 30 touchdowns. You’re talking about a crazy offensive year for a running back, in a league that’s largely devaluing running backs. … He’s in an offence that complements itself, with the run game and the pass game and what Sean McVay asks Goff to do. McVay has taken Goff, a kid with a lot of talent, to another level. And Todd Gurley, too.”
(co-leaders)
Jadeveon Clowney, edge rusher, Houston Texans
5th year, age 25
Season synopsis: After starting only 11 games in his first two NFL seasons because of leg injuries, the 2014 first overall draft pick has really come on as a dominant backfield disrupter. He had 9.5 sacks a year ago, and from a multitude of positions along the defensive line this year ranks tied for 25th with 4.5 sacks. Aaron Donald, defensive lineman, Los Angeles Rams
5th year, age 27
Season synopsis: Widely regarded as the most dominant interior defensive linemen now, if not of the decade, Donald held out for almost all of training camp before signing a six-year extension at the end of August worth up to US$135 million, with $87 million guaranteed and a $40-million signing bonus. That makes him the NFL’s highest paid defensive player. Donald’s production and effectiveness through eight games has only increased. He leads the NFL with 10 sacks, just one off his career high. MAYOCK: “I think the predominant feeling here would be Aaron Donald as defensive MVP. He’s got 10 sacks and he’s explosive every single snap of the game. When you talk to top quarterbacks around the league, they all say the thing they dislike most is immediate pressure up the middle. And that’s what Aaron Donald does. “But from my perspective, the guy I’m partial to a little bit right now is Jadeveon Clowney. You don’t hear a lot about him, especially with J.J. Watt’s comeback. But I mean, I put his tape on from two weeks ago against Jacksonville and they couldn’t block him in the run game, they couldn’t block him in the pass game. He dominated the football game. He was on the edge, he was in the A-gap, he was in a two-point stance, he was in a three-point stance. And then I went back and watched some more of his tape and it’s been like that every game. “I love a couple of things about Clowney: a) he’s healthy, b) you’re starting to see his talent take over, and c) the ways they’re using him defensively is really intelligent. They’re poking and prodding each offensive line, every pass protection. They’re forcing teams to account for him all over the line of scrimmage. “So to me, I’d almost like to say at this point — and I like Aaron Donald and I’m a believer in him — but I would say there’s almost a co-defensive MVP here, with Jadeveon Clowney.”
TOP ROOKIE, OFFENCE
Saquon Barkley, running back, New York Giants
1st year, age 21
Season synopsis: Although the rookie from Penn State bounces the ball outside too often, and seldom gains many yards on most hand-offs, he still makes jaw-droppingly big plays whenever he’s in open space, be it on a run or pass. Barkley ranks second in the NFL behind Gurley with 1,016 yards from scrimmage, and Barkley’s yards per touch is higher than Gurley’s, 6.0 to 5.8. MAYOCK: “This goes to Saquon Barkley and justifiably. He’s already over 1,000 scrimmage yards. You talked about Gurley and his ability in the pass game, and I think that’s the one thing people didn’t understand when Barkley came in: that not only was he a great running back, but how talented he was as a receiver, both out of the backfield and moving him around as a chess piece. I think Saquon Barkley is everything that people thought he would be, and maybe even more because of the type of person he is in your locker-room. “Unfortunately, offensive linemen are never gonna get a look for this kind of award, but Indianapolis guard Quenton Nelson from Notre Dame is killing people. He makes a mistake here and there, but he’s a centrepiece for what’s going on, in learning how to protect Andrew Luck. Barkley gets the award, but Nelson has been a dominant force already as a rookie guard.”
TOP ROOKIE, DEFENCE
Derwin James, strong safety, Los Angeles Chargers
1st year, age 22
Season synopsis: James is earning raves for his strong play in a variety of pass coverage and run support roles on a muchimproved Chargers defence, coordinated by former Jacksonville head coach Gus Bradley. MAYOCK: “I wish Saints defensive end Marcus Davenport had started earlier. He’s a raw project. I love what New Orleans is doing with him. I think by the end of the year, you’ll see him and Denver defensive end Bradley Chubb continuing to take huge jumps. “But right now it’s probably a defensive back. Either Derwin James or Cleveland cornerback Denzel Ward. I would probably say Derwin James. I think what he’s done with that Chargers defence, and the fact they are where they are today, he’s as advertised: a physical, big cover guy that can tackle, be a leader, turn the football over. He has played extremely well. And Denzel Ward has played extremely well on the outside in Cleveland.”
Deshaun Watson, quarterback, Houston Texans
2nd year, age 23
Season synopsis: After tearing the ACL in his right knee exactly one year ago Friday to end a spectacular debut pro season, the former Clemson University star recovered fast enough to start this season in Week 1. After struggling in three losses, he is dazzling again. Houston is on a five-game win streak and Watson ranks seventh in TD throws (15) and 12th in efficiency rating (98.4). MAYOCK: “Not only is he coming off an ACL, but he had limited starts in the NFL before that, and at the most important position. After starting slowly this year, all of a sudden this team is in first place at 5-3 and he’s starting to look like the player he was before he got hurt a year ago. So I love (Indianapolis QB) Andrew Luck coming back, and (Houston DE) J.J. Watt, but I just love the Deshaun Watson story, not just from an injury perspective, but he didn’t have as deep a well to draw from. And that’s what’s really impressive to me.”