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Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes and Justin Jefferson are all league MVPs in 2022
While the 2022 regular season is two weeks away from its conclusion, and the Super Bowl champion won’t be crowned until mid-February, we welcome 2023 on Sunday… will the NFL’s league MVP be crowned?
Here we’ve selected the league’s top five contenders in the race this season, with some additional input for each from NBC analyst and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms.
“It’s been one of the most interesting years we’ve had in a long time in terms of the MVP conversation,” Simms said on Pro Football Talk (Sky Sports NFL, weekdays, 6pm). With the winner not being announced until the NFL Honors awards ceremony during Super Bowl week, who should we beat this year?
Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
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Check out the best plays of the 2022 NFL season by far from MVP hopeful Jalen Hurts
The Eagles now have the best record in the NFL, sitting at 13-2 with two weeks, with Hurts – absent for the second of these losses, to the Dallas Cowboys last week, with a shoulder sprain – a key component in success.
Hurts has 3,472 passing yards this season, to go with 22 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Add to that 747 yards on the ground (third among QBs) and 13 rushing scores (tied for second in the NFL) and it’s easy to see why the third-year quarterback is considered a major contender for league MVP in 2022.
sims: “I don’t think you should take the MVP away from anybody if they’ve missed just one game. I don’t think that should sway that.”
“If you’re going to pick Jalen Hurts, you’ve got to pick Jalen Hurts. He’s done a great job, had a great year. He’s a great player, the leader of that football team.
“I understand how the league MVP award works, but for me he is not necessarily the most valuable player in football. Rather he is a phenomenal team – not that I want to diminish his achievements this year.”
Patrick Mahomes, Chief of Kansas City
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A look at some of the best plays from Patrick Mahomes this season, in his attempt to get his second MVP award
After leading the Chiefs to their seventh straight AFC West division title, Mahomes is the crowd favorite to take home his second MVP gong in his first five seasons as an NFL starting quarterback, also winning in 2018.
The 27-year-old has notched the fourth career year with over 4,500 passing yards and 35 passing touchdowns, with a league-leading mark of 4,720 and 37 in 2022. Only Tom Brady, and his two-decade long career, has more. that season (five).
Mahomes also needs only 522 more total offensive yards than Kansas City’s final two games to see him pass Drew Brees (5,562 in 2011) for the most in NFL history.
As much as the second league MVP award with eyes, it is the second Super Bowl ring that will really be eyeing up come mid-February.
sims: “Mahomes, this year, he’s been phenomenal — again, he’s had some of the most phenomenal performances of the year.
“I can argue in many ways that he is better this year than the year he won the MVP. The Chiefs may not be as explosive, so he needs to be more efficient. And his defense is a bit of a concern, so it’s always in someone to score 30 points every week.
“He has made corrections to the game and has been clutch in many big moments. He makes ‘panic mode’ look so easy.
“Of course he wants the Super Bowl, but he also wants the MVP. That’s all part of the resume that measures you against the Bradys. [Peyton] Mannings, the [Aaron] Rodgers and all those guys.”
Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
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Watch the best plays from Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s incredible 2022 season
Bills quarterback Allen is second only to Mahomes in total yards (4,775) and touchdowns (39) this season, with a large part of his sizeable success coming on the ground.
Allen mows down the quarterback like no other, a fearsome QB battering ram whose 746 rushing yards in 2022 puts him fourth among QBs. And it does not forget the absolute cannon of the arm that he has, with the Bills riding it all the way to a 12-3 record this season to see him now in possession of the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
A red-hot start to the season has been considered as a man to beat, although his 13 interceptions – tied for the second most in the league – may have hurt his stock.
sims: “Yes [Allen] doesn’t have the same supporting cast Jalen Hurts had in Philadelphia. The same goes for Mahomes. They don’t have one of the top defenses in football, the best offensive line.
“How can you not watch the Bills and go, ‘Oh my god, what would this team be without this guy?’. He’s a leading rusher, running, scrambling, making reliable throws. He’s a big guy for the biggest situations. .
“That’s where I look at him and Mahomes and like this MVP conversation. You take them away from the Bills or the Chiefs and there’s a significant drop off.”
Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings
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A look at the best catches of Justin Jefferson this season, arguably the only wide receiver with a shout to win the MVP award
No receiver in NFL history has been named league MVP. No wideout has ever topped 2,000 yards in a season, either … but Vikings superstar Jefferson could be set to change all that.
Jefferson leads the NFL both in receptions (123) and receiving yards (1,756) – both career highs – in 2022, with the 23-year-old must average 122 yards in the final Minnesota two games to top 2k, while 104.5 per game will. saw him surpass Calvin Johnson’s previous single-season record of 1,964 set in 2012 with the Detroit Lions.
It may seem a tall order, but Jefferson has eclipsed 100 yards receiving in 24 of 48 career games in the NFL, at a rate of 50 percent – obliterating the next highest percentage owned by Hall of Famer Julio Jones (38.6).
sims: “Jefferson is the most likely non-quarterback to emerge. He’s the most valuable asset to that Vikings team, and I always like to go back to that conversation, ‘who is the most valuable player?’
“You have to throw people into the conversation and legitimately think about it. I don’t know what Minnesota would be without Jefferson? It’s very good almost every week from him.”
Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
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A look at some of the best plays from Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow
Burrow, as he did when he led the Bengals to the Super Bowl last season, may have gone under the radar — drowned out by the noise made by Mahomes and Allen running against him in the AFC.
He is second only to Mahomes in passing yards (4,260) and touchdowns (34) this season, although if you take away Cincinnati’s surprising 0-2 start, it is Burrow who actually leads the league in the latter category, with 31 TD passes since Sunday. three.
Burrow and the Bengals are in the shape of a horse in the NFL, and they have not been able to steal the No. 1 seed in the conference from Mahomes and Allen’s nose, with a victory over Buffalo on Saturday night and the loss of the Chiefs to see them leap two.
sims: “Throw Burrow into this conversation. Is it crazy that the Bengals are the best team in the AFC? I don’t think so.
“They’ve beaten the Chiefs three times in a row and they play the Bills this week. I wouldn’t count them out either. [for league MVP] that he played in some of these big games over the last few weeks.
Sky Sports NFL brings you four live games over the New Year’s weekend; Dolphins @ Patriots kick off the New Year celebrations at 18:00, while there’s also RedZone on Sky Sports Mix on Saturday night; The Vikings @ Packers and Steelers @ Ravens complete a triple bill on Sunday with the Bills @ Bengals starting at 1.30pm on Tuesday January 3rd.
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