Los Angeles Rams: Three bold predictions for Todd Gurley this season
By Jason Reed
3. Todd Gurley will be the Most Valuable Player
The MVP award in football is a quarterback-dominated award and was won by a quarterback last season in Tom Brady. While Brady certainly was deserving of the award, he does get a natural advantage by simply being the signal caller for one of the best teams in football last season.
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However, that does not mean that running backs are incapable of winning the award. There have been a handful of running backs that have won the award since the turn of the century and they all follow a common trend.
A common trend that lines right up with Gurley and should make him one of the favorites to win the award, despite not being a quarterback. Heck, he already received eight of the 50 MVP votes last season.
The running backs to win the MVP since 2000 are Marshall Faulk (2000), Shaun Alexander (2005), Tomlinson (2006) and Adrian Peterson (2012).
While Alexander and LT did go back to back in 2005 and 2006, there is a common trend about how often these awards happen. Typically, every six or so years, at least in the last 18 years, there has been a running back to win the award.
This season marks six years since Peterson won the award. With Brady and Carson Wentz being the only real preseason competition entering the year, the door is wide open for Gurley.
Plus, it is going to be very hard to deny someone with over 2,000 yards from scrimmage, 1,500 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns the MVP award.
All statistics courtesy of ESPN.