Ask Mase: How the NFL MVP award became the QB of the Year award

It would also be nice to talk about a Bronco contending for the league’s MVP award this year. And for Russell Wilson himself, the MVP trophy is one of the few items missing from his trophy case.

Wilson has nine Pro Bowl trips, the Walter Payton Man of the Year award and a Super Bowl ring. The MVP award has eluded him, even though his career body of work is better than some who have won the trophy — particularly Cam Newton (2015) and Matt Ryan (2016).

And the fact is, he’s really the only Bronco who is likely to be in the MVP conversation, period. That’s because MVP has effectively become a QB-of-the-Year award in recent years.

Which brings me to …

From Dan in New York:

Will there ever be a non-QB NFL MVP again? Will there ever be a defensive player win MVP again? I remember these things happening (LT, and…the other LT!), but in this age of the league it seems impossible. What would it take for a non-QB to win?

You never say “never.” And while this era of football is hyper-focused around the quarterback, the lengthy arc of history says that at some point, a non-QB will win the award again. But at this moment in time and for the foreseeable future, it seems highly unlikely.

Consider these examples:

• 2020: Titans running back Derrick Henry becomes just the eighth running back to surpass 2,000 yards in a single season. He did not receive a single MVP vote.
• 2021: Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp became the first receiver in 34 years to catch at least 120 passes, accumulate over 1,500 receiving yards and score at least 15 touchdowns in the first 16 games of the season. (Kupp added a 7-catch, 118-yard, 1-touchdown game in Week 18 as the cherry on the sundae.) He got a single MVP vote out of 50.

Neither were NFL MVP. Neither even came close.

Fourteen of the last 15 MVPs were quarterbacks. The only exception was in 2012, when Adrian Peterson’s 2,000-yard season pushed him to the award.

Consider the number of non-QB MVPs by decade for a moment:

• 2020s: 0 (2 years)
• 2010s: 1
• 2000s: 3
• 1990s: 4 (one, Barry Sanders in 1997, was a co-MVP with Brett Favre)
• 1980s: 3
• 1970s: 5
• 1960s: 3
• 1950s: 2 (in three years, since the MVP award goes back to 1957)

So, as you can see, the rate was pretty stable for decades — 3-to-5 non-QB MVPs every 10 years. Only in the last two decades has it gone out of whack.

Now, Henry and Kupp were the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in the last two seasons. Effectively, that award has become a way to honor non-quarterbacks who have off-the-charts seasons. Four of the last five winners were non-quarterbacks, including the last three in a row. In 2019, Lamar Jackson was a unanimous NFL MVP — but he finished second in the Offensive Player of the Year balloting behind New Orleans wide receiver Michael Thomas.

It is worth noting, however, that in four of the last nine seasons, a quarterback who won NFL MVP also won Offensive Player of the Year.

So, the NFL should immediately change the standards for Offensive Player of the Year to ensure that only non-QBs win the award.

Something else that would help: Allowing voters to have first, second and third choices, like in the NBA. As it stands today, the 50 NFL MVP voters make one pick: the winner. That’s it. Would the results be different if they changed this? Perhaps not. But multiple choices would likely enhance the discussion.

From Pablo in Fairbanks, Alaska:

Thanks for answering my Gradishar query, Mase. I’m a trifle embarrassed by my ignorance of the process. There are few with greater knowledge of Gradishar’s worthiness than you but your larger point ie ‘bottleneck’ being the issue is valid.

I was honestly upset that Cliff Branch had died before his enshrinement and feel compassion to Falcon and Bengal fans (Ken Riley) who are so grossly under-represented. I guess I should count my blessing that a number of Broncos have made it in of late.

Still. I think back to that AFC Championship Game in ‘77 when the Broncos defeated the defending world champion Raiders. I believe nine players and coaches from that Raiders team are enshrined. Not one Bronco although Randy and Louis Wright were the best players on the field that day.

No reason to be embarrassed. The HoF selection process is not something that generates huge headlines. It is also one of those “inside baseball” type of arcane issues that doesn’t have much meaning in the grand scheme of football, but matters deeply to a small group of people.

Even though the “Orange Crush” defense it didn’t win a Super Bowl, it was iconic and dominant. The same could be said of Minnesota’s “Purple People Eaters” of the 1970 — right down to not winning a Super Bowl. Yet three Vikings defenders from that era are inducted: Alan Page, Carl Eller and safety Paul Krause. Another three 1970s Vikings from offense are in the Hall.

No one that the Broncos of the 1970s should have equal representation to the Vikings. After all, Minnesota made four Super Bowls between 1969 and 1976. The “Orange Crush”-era Broncos got to the big game just once.

Gradishar should be in. Louis Wright should be in, too. But as long as Gradishar remains locked out of the reward he earned, it’s hard to advocate for Wright, even though the cornerback has a great case. He was Champ Bailey before Champ Bailey.

From Michael in San Isidro, Costa Rica:

Now with new ownership, I hear that a new stadium should be built, so Denver could host a Super Bowl. I thought that the Super Bowl is now limited to four permanent rotating locations. Which is fact?

Fact No. 1: While there is plenty of speculation about a potential new Broncos stadium, it would be a surprise if the Walton-Penner ownership group makes an immediate declaration one way or the other upon assuming ownership in the coming weeks.

It is more likely that the group will engage in further study and investigation of the options before making a commitment. That said, if the Broncos do go to a new stadium, it wouldn’t happen until the second half of this decade, at the earliest.

Fact No. 2: There is no current rotation on Super Bowl locations. And one is unlikely to develop. It’s one of those things about which reporters often speculate.

Most spitballed rotations involve Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans and the Phoenix or Las Vegas areas. But there are other viable locations — Atlanta, San Francisco Bay Area, Tampa, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are five examples. A domed or retractable-roofed stadium in Denver would bring the Mile High City into the mix. Nashville will enter the chat when it builds its projected domed stadium.

With all of those venues in play, a new stadium would mean — at best — one Super Bowl a decade in Denver.

#AskMase What do you think of scripting the first 15 plays? I think it is living in the past, as well as a lack of capacity for coaches to first of all diagnose the defense’s weaknesses and secondly take immediate advantage of them. Why wait a half to do that? What will Nate do?

— Daisy Bennett (@DaisyBe19269324) July 17, 2022

Well, 15 plays isn’t waiting a half. And the “script” is a bit looser than the term implies. There is latitude to adjust for situation — down-and-distance, etc. Bill Walsh, the generally accepted father of play scripting, would deviate when he faced some specific scenarios. A seasoned quarterback like Russell Wilson can audible and react to what the defense presents.

As Rams coach Sean McVay told The Ringer in 2017, “If things go great, you’re going to just go right down that list,” McVay says. “[But] it’s not realistic … You’ve got to be mindful about staying on schedule but also being ready to adjust to the different situations within the framework of a drive.”

The script is very much alive and not yet passé, in my humble opinion. It’s just not the rigid entity it might seem to be.

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