Some great teams have a clear MVP candidate. The largest team has three. Maybe four.
Coming out Monday on Tom Brady's Let's Go! On the SiriusXM podcast, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey listed his top two MVP candidates.
“If I had my vote, it would be Brock [Purdy] as MVP and Trent [Williams] would be second in line,” McCaffrey said.
Brady made it clear at the beginning of the conversation that team performance was much more important to him when playing.
““I felt like it was all about the team accolades – and ultimately winning championships,” Brady said. “You can have a great individual year and be a really good player on a bad team, which isn't all that much fun. I think for me it was always about celebrating success with other players, and the best moments weren't accepting a trophy, an MVP trophy. It was about accepting a Super Bowl ring with all the people who were involved in it.”
The vast majority of players would rather win a Super Bowl than an individual award. However, the NFL continues to hand out individual awards. And Brady revealed for the first time on the latest episode of the podcast that he has one of the votes this year – despite having a pending deal to buy part of the Raiders.
And Brady seems to agree that Williams deserves MVP consideration.
“I’m watching big Trent blocking for everyone there,” Brady said. “I'm not saying Trent is going to take the MVP away, but if there was an award for offensive lineman, I think Trent would be the one to get it based on his performance at the top. He’s pretty incredible.”
McCaffrey urged Brady to vote for Purdy.
“Vote for Brock, man,” McCaffrey said. “This guy deserves it, man. I know, of course you respect that. He's been incredible for this team and I hate when I hear people say something negative: “Oh, he's just a system quarterback.” Everyone's a system quarterback. That's part of what it means to be a quarterback in my eyes. I mean, I don't know much about the position. I try to stay in my lane and just open and block and do all the other things. But I mean, if you're playing in a system, that's about all you could ask for. And then you play outside the X's and O's every now and then, and that's all he did all year. So he gets my vote.”
The challenge for voters this year is to rank the various 49ers candidates (Purdy, McCaffrey, Williams and receiver Deebo Samuel) and pit them against players like Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Chiefs – Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and maybe even Browns defensive end Myles Garrett and Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.
It will become clearer once the playoff trees are determined in both conferences. Voters list a total of five at the bottom and rank them first through fifth. Will the 49ers players split the vote enough to open the door for someone like Lamar Jackson? It depends on how the next three weeks turn out.
And honestly, Lamar can trump all 49ers candidates by playing a big game in San Francisco on Christmas Eve and beating the best team in the league.