Could Tyreek Hill End the Monopoly of Quarterbacks on the MVP Award in 2024?
By the sheer nature of their role and responsibilities, no player has more of an impact on a game of football than the quarterback.
It’s the most eye-catching position, and the route to success (or failure) for any franchise with dreams of divisional, conference, or even Super Bowl glory in mind.
Load up the history books of the NFL’s MVP award and, unsurprisingly, it’s QBs that have historically dominated this totem to footballing brilliance, with only one non-quarterback (Adrian Peterson, 2012) lifting the trophy in recent memory.
But could Tyreek Hill change all that in 2023-24?
Golden Receiver
Sports bettors have the opportunity to wager on a host of different NFL odds markets, with the lines for the Super Bowl, AFC, and NFC remaining pretty static throughout the campaign. But the odds for the regular season MVP award have been flip-flopping like a merry-go-round, with as many as five different quarterbacks attaining favoritism at one point or another.
Patrick Mahomes, already a two-time MVP, started the season as the favorite, but his relative struggles – heading into Week 14, he’d only gained 3,127 yards with a 67.8% completion – mean he has been usurped as the main contender.
Tua Tagovailoa has been a key figure in the Dolphins’ surge to the top of the AFC Conference, Jalen Hurts has been likewise for the Eagles in the NFC, and Dak Prescott has been landing 70% of his passes – each has been mentioned in MVP circles.
While each of those individuals has orchestrated their respective teams’ offensive plays, it still takes a classy wide receiver to run them home – nobody is more adept at that in football right now than Tyreek Hill.
The 29-year-old is averaging 604 yards per reception from a heavy workload, running in 12 touchdowns for good measure. His seasonal haul of 1,481 yards is putting him on course to smash Calvin Johnson’s 1,964-yard record – the sort of landmark that should be recognized and celebrated.
If the Dolphins can power their way to the Super Bowl, you could argue that Hill has been the primary contributor to their success - perhaps even more so than Tagovailoa – for that reason, he has to be seriously considered for MVP glory.
Most Valuable Peterson
The last time that happened, it took a stellar season from one of the greatest running backs in history to end the QB monopoly.
Adrian Peterson smashed the 2,000-yard ceiling for carries during the 2012 season (only the second running back to do so), rushing for 150 or more yards in seven regular season games, and 861 yards in a single calendar month – an NFL all-time record.
It was a campaign in which no individual quarterback particularly stood out with their performances, but that shouldn’t detract from the excellence of Peterson – his Minnesota Vikings side barely snook into the postseason with a wild card, where they lost first time out against the Packers.
Peterson did a more than serviceable impression of being a one-man band in Minnesota; he was a deserving MVP in 2012. Can Hill emulate him more than a decade later?