Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the runaway MVP, and anyone disputing his claim is just kidding themselves at this point. The former first-round pick is in the midst of arguably the best season of his career, and there isn’t another quarterback playing at his level. To date, Tom Brady and Lamar Jackson are the only players to ever unanimously win MVP, but Mahomes could join them after this fantastic campaign.
Patrick Mahomes Deserves to Be the Unanimous MVP
Ever since he earned the starting job, Patrick Mahomes has devastated opposing defenses through the air. Blessed with insane arm talent and athleticism, Mahomes is the primary reason that Kansas City has been a top-three team since the 2018 season. However, there was a case to be made that some of Mahomes’ greatness was due to his supporting cast.
Mahomes had the luxury of playing under arguably the best offensive mind in football in Andy Reid and with two of the most dangerous weapons in football in Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Prior to 2022, one could argue that this near-perfect situation artificially inflated Mahomes’ numbers, especially during the 2021 season. Last year, Mahomes was second in the league in EPA/play, but 11th in PFF’s film-based grades.
Well, 2022 completely destroyed the notion that Mahomes was a product of his surroundings. While Reid and Kelce are still around, Tyreek Hill is destroying defenses in Miami. Even though he lost the best deep threat in football and never found a true replacement, Mahomes is still putting up absurd numbers. Through 16 weeks, the quarterback leads in the league in EPA/play, DYAR, PFF grade, and is second in DVOA. Mahomes is at or near the top of just about every metric in the game, and the film backs up the stats. He’s the best player at the game’s most important position, and it’s not particularly close.
Patrick Mahomes produces more highlights in one season than most do over an entire career.
Here’s 6 RIDICULOUS plays through 14 games.
#ChiefsKingdom #MVPat pic.twitter.com/6HfobBLIbx— The Chiefs Pod (@TheChiefsPod) December 19, 2022
The Rest of the Field
Just because Mahomes has been great doesn’t necessarily mean that others haven’t played well in their own right. Winning the MVP unanimously is an incredibly difficult achievement, although voters are more open to the idea now than they were a decade ago. After all, there is no logical explanation for Brady and Manning not winning unanimously in 2007 and 2004, respectively.
Brady and Jackson won their unanimous MVP’s because nobody came even close to playing at their levels, and Mahomes is in a similar boat. Jalen Hurts has played well this year, and is probably the only person that could realistically take votes from Mahomes. Had he stayed healthy, he could have challenged for the award. However, the Eagles quarterback suffered a shoulder sprain against the Chicago Bears that forced him to miss Week 16 and will likely sideline him for Week 17. Hurts was trailing Mahomes in the MVP race to begin with, and his extended absence likely kills any chance of him winning the award.
The only other player that might steal some votes is Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson. It should go without saying that Jefferson is a phenomenal player, and if the award was simply based on who is the best player, then he’s certainly have an argument. However, the MVP is all about value added on the field, and the quarterback is such a disproportionately important position that only a quarterback should get any votes. With that in mind, Patrick Mahomes is the easy choice for MVP, and he should earn every vote.
