Football 301 Playbook: NFL awards preview with picks and dark horses for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and more

We’re here. It’s gameday. Let’s launch into the season with my final predictions and picks for each major award, division and the Super Bowl!

For a more extended breakdown of each pick, make sure to check out this week’s episode of Football 301 with Matt Harmon and Charles McDonald.

(All odds via BetMGM.)

NFL MVP

The candidates

Pick one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL out of a hat and build a case for him.

Patrick Mahomes on his quest for a three-peat. Lamar Jackson defending his MVP belt with Derrick Henry and other new faces. A Joe Burrow revenge tour. A Dak Prescott prevenge tour(?). Brock Purdy fills up the box score and the 49ers keep winning. Ascension from one of the young gunslingers like C.J. Stroud. Any of these make sense.

For my fanfiction, I went with a different top passer.

The choice: Josh Allen, QB, Bills (+850)

Allen will surely have some statistical case to lean on if he were a candidate for this award. He has sat at the top or near the top in box score stats and underlying metrics alike the past few seasons. It’s all about team success and what the narrative case could possibly be for each of these award picks.

For the team part of this, I do think the Bills are going to have a very good run game, are well-coached on defense (although the Matt Milano injury is definitely not a fun thing to overcome), and still have a nitro-boosted gatling gun at quarterback. For Allen, I think the reconfiguration of personnel on both sides of the ball, including losing receiver Stefon Diggs, will help build a case of just how valuable his play is as the narrative catches up to reality. Allen has the mind-melting plays that put the Bills over the top, but he’s also very precise (he was first in catchable ball rate and second in dropback success rate on non-RPO and non-play action passing plays last season) and cerebral (yes, really) in how he plays the game.

The dark horse: Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts (+2800)

This is tilting the shoulder back…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-05 19:13:44

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