1. Tom Brady, Last Week: 1
Tom Brady finally threw his first since Week 6, but the Patriots still won and clinched the poor AFC East. The 2012 Patriots are scoring more points a game than the 2007 Patriots and have been impressive, even though they’ve played the easiest schedule in the league.
2. Peyton Manning, Last Week: 2
The Broncos clinched the AFC West this week and Peyton Manning has been given most of the credit for leading this team back to the playoffs post-Tebow. Manning hasn’t been lights out good but he has been a model of consistency and has been as good in the second half of the season as we’ve ever seen him.
3. Robert Griffin III, Last Week: 4
Robert Griffin III is having the best rookie season we’ve seen and the hype train for him was in full effect on Monday night against the Giants. Griffin is an incredible player but ESPN spent almost all of their preview show talking about him and then John Gruden continued the slobber-fest during the game. A good MVP definitely needs some MVP hype to go along with his good play and RGIII is getting that. Oh and he also might lead a mediocre Redskins team to the playoffs.
4. Aaron Rodgers, Last Week: 3
Rodgers had a good game against the Vikings last week and has good stats on the season. Being the 4th QB on this list though, Rodgers will need to do real well in the last couple of games while leading the Packers to the playoffs if he wants to win his 2nd straight MVP.
5. Adrian Peterson, Last Week: 6
The last time a RB won the MVP award was in 2006 when LaDanian Tomlinson put up a ridiculous 1,800 yards and 28 rushing TD’s. It’s possible for Peterson to win the MVP but it’s probably not likely to happen unless the players ahead of him play real poor for the rest of the season. It’s a QB league.
6. JJ Watt, Last Week: 8
JJ Watt is the obvious choice for defensive player of the year right now even if he doesn’t win MVP. Watt’s 15.5 sacks are only second in the NFL but he also has 15 passes deflected,which is incredible for a defensive player. He rushes the QB as well as anybody else in the league but he also makes an impact well beyond that.
7. Matt Ryan, Last Week: 7
Matt Ryan probably ended his MVP campaign with his 5 INT game but he still went out and played a good game against the Saints and got his team another win. Ryan gets to play against the shaky Giants secondary this week.
8. Drew Brees, Last Week: 5
Speaking of 5 INT games, Drew Brees had one of his own against the Falcons this week. Brees has been putting up big stats all year but has also been throwing more INT’s than usual. With the Saints likely to miss the playoffs, Brees is also unlikely to win the MVP.
9. Calvin Johnson, Last Week: Unranked
Many fantasy owners have been disappointed with Calvin Johnson’s low TD numbers this year but Johnson is still having an incredible season. Through the first 12 games of his record-setting season, Jerry Rice had 1, 285 yards. Through 12 games this year, Calvin Johnson has 1,428 yards. Johnson is about 200 yards ahead of the 1,848 mark set by Jerry Rice and if he does break it he could gain some serious MVP buzz.
10. Aldon Smith, Last Week: 9
Aldon Smith is having a great year with a league leading 17.5 sacks to go along with 3 forced fumbles.
Stephen Chott
Latest posts by Stephen Chott (see all)
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s son talks about relationship with him in Reddit AMA - May 19, 2013
- What if…Tyson Chandler didn’t fail his physical with the Thunder? - May 19, 2013
- What if….the Thunder didn’t trade James Harden? - May 17, 2013
- The Farm Cast: Episode 6 - May 17, 2013
