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Throughout much of the season, the conversation of the NFL’s MVP has revolved around Carolina Panthers‘ Cam Newton and New England Patriots‘ Tom Brady. As the season progressed, Arizona Cardinals‘ Carson Palmer has also thrown his hat into the ring, but Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, deserves more recognition in this conversation as well.
Newton has put together a stellar season with the Panthers ending 15-1 and going into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the NFC with the ability to keep home-field advantage up until the Super Bowl. He is 16th in the league with 3,837 passing yards, tied for second in the league with 35 touchdowns and is eighth in the league amongst eligible quarterbacks with a quarterback rating of 99.4. Newton provided good production on the ground also with over 600 yards, ten touchdowns and averaged almost five yards per carry. Carolina is the league’s top scoring offense.
Newton seems to be the front-runner in the MVP discussion, but his 59.8 completion percentage would be the lowest by an MVP winning quarterback since 1997 when Brett Favre won it with a 59.9 completion percentage.
Brady was able to put together another solid season en route to a 12-4 record and the No. 2 seed in the AFC. He ended the season third in passing yards with 4,770, led the league in touchdowns with 36 and was fourth amongst eligible quarterbacks with a 102.2 quarterback rating. He also threw the second least number of interceptions amongst quarterbacks with at least 300 attempts, only throwing seven picks.
Palmer was able to put together one of his best seasons in his 12-year career leading the Cardinals to a 13-3 record and the two seed in the NFC. He is fourth in the league in passing yards with 4,671 yards, is tied for second with 35 touchdowns and is third in the league with a 104.6 passer rating.He has led the most productive offense in terms of yards per game and the second most productive offense in terms of total points.
Wilson is right in line with all three of these candidates ranked 12th in the league with 4,024 passing yards, 34 touchdown passes which is good for third in the league, and a quarterback rating that is the best in football at 110.1. He also ranked third in completion percentage and has thrown fewer interceptions than Newton and Palmer, and has one more than Brady with eight. Wilson put together a 118.6 passer rating when he was throwing from inside the pocket, best in the league and best out of anyone in the last three seasons.
Wilson was also able to put up good numbers in the ground game with 553 rushing yards and averaged over five yards per carry.
He set Seahawks franchise records in passing yards and passing touchdowns, and was the first player in history to throw for over 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns and rush for at least 500 yards in a single season. In addition, Wilson has provided his receivers Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett with the second and fourth best catch rates in the league respectively, and has connected with Baldwin for his first 1,000 yard season and the tie for league lead in touchdowns receptions with 14. He also connected with rookie receiver Lockett for the third most yards amongst rookies with 664 and tied for most touchdowns with six.
Not to mention Wilson went through much of the season with one of the worst offensive lines in the league. They allowed the most sacks in football through the first half of the season, and although they have gotten better throughout the year, they ended the regular season tied for the sixth most sacks allowed. He also lost his most dynamic weapons on the offensive side of the ball in Jimmy Graham and Marshawn Lynch for a majority of the season and eventually ended up down to third string running backs after Thomas Rawls broke his ankle with three games left in the regular season, all while leading the Seahawks offense to be the fourth best scoring offense in football and their fourth consecutive playoff appearance.
While the other candidates may be walking into the playoff races with better records, Wilson has led Seattle back to the playoffs with a team that looks just as dangerous as the ones that have made two straight Super Bowl appearances. The Seahawks are now a force on the offensive side of the ball because of Wilson, and although he may not walk away with the MVP trophy, he should be in the discussion.
