Hello, Smash fans. Welcome to this week’s article. Today, I thought I would break down why I think Derrick Henry deserves the MVP and why thinking otherwise is foolish.
First off: Derrick Henry’s 2021 campaign is more historically great. Yes, this season put Aaron Rodgers as tied for fifth all-time in touchdowns for a single season, but he also doesn’t rank in the top hundred all-time for passing yards in a single season. Deshaun Watson of the 4-12 Texans had over 500 yards more this season. On the other hand, there are only two running backs in NFL history to rush for over 2000 yards and score 15 touchdowns. Those two players are Terrell Davis and Derrick Henry. You know what Terrell Davis won that season: The MVP. Do you know what year that was? 1997. Do you want to know what happened the last time a running back rushed for over 200 yards? They won the MVP. Do you want to guess who it was? Adrian Peterson. But Adrian Peterson had 4 fewer touchdowns than Derrick Henry and only 70 yards more. That is just over four yards a game. So in short, you are telling me a running back that has achieved a feat only done once before in NFL history in a league that is more pass-heavy than ever doesn’t deserve the MVP?
I'm not done yet.
Additionally, Derrick Henry is more valuable to his team than Aaron Rodgers is to his. To illustrate what I mean let’s use a hypothetical. Let’s say that one day both Aaron Rodgers and Derick Hery switched teams with the most average person at their position. For Aaron Rodgers, according to Passer rating, it would be Baker Mayfield. If you like QBR more imagine it is Matthew Stafford. (I would use passer rating because QBR has Ryan Fitzpatrick as the 5th best quarterback in the league.) Anyway, you put Baker on the Packers. How many more games do they lose? 1, maybe 2. Still allowing them to clinch a division title. On the other hand, how many more games do you think the Browns win? Two, maybe three.
Now for Derrick Henry, if you do it by yards per game, the answer would be Raheem Mostert. If you wanted to do it by yards per attempt, it would be David Johnson. Now imagine how many more games the Titans would have lost with David Johnson at the helm? 4 maybe even 5 games because they aren’t beating the Texans either time. They'd probably lose to the Vikings. They would have definitely lost to the Ravens. They may lose to the Colts in their second matchup. Those are just the 5 sure bets. All of those, other than the Colts games, were one possession and the Colts had beat the Titans two weeks earlier. That drops their record from 11-5 to 6-10, having them miss the playoffs easily. On the other hand, the Texans would probably be propelled into playoff contention. They would beat the Titans twice, they would probably beat the Steelers and the Vikings. Additionally, They would have definitely scored more than 7 points on the Browns thus beating them. Furthermore, they would definitely beat the Colts at least once if not twice, and would have definitely beat the Bengals. That would have put them either at 11 and 5 or 12 and 4: either way, they would make the playoff.
Finally, there are fewer running backs that could do what Derrick Henry has done versus what Aaron Rodgers has done in terms of impact. If you really think about it, how many great running backs are there? 5? 6? Realy the list boils down to Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, and maybe Nick Chubb. No other running backs could even come close to the impact of Derrick Henry. On the other hand, there are in my opinion, Quarterbacks that have a similar impact: Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, and maybe Tom Brady. That is 7 on 5 or 6 on 4. Either way, my point stands.
Now you see why Derrick Henry deserves the MVP. It is not just because he was the most dominant player this year. It is because his 2020 campaign is more historically significant than Aaron Rodgers', Derrick Henry is more valuable to his team than Aaron Rodgers, and there are fewer players in the league right now who could ever hope to come close to the impact Derrick Henry had than there are players that have replicated the impact Aaron Rodgers had on the Green Bay.
Thank you so much for reading.
Until next time, PD Smash Signing off.