Can someone post Barnwell's column?

[tyecopeland]

Apparently espn decided they didn't have enough content behind their pay wall. Two of the three weekly columns I usually read are now espn plus only.

[duncan_idaho]

ESPN+ is a mess. We got it with a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ and I can never get it to recognize the Disney+ login credentials.

[Pants]

I have ESPN+. Here's the summary.


Comeback player of the year:

3. Ben Roethlisraper
2. Jason Verrett
1. Alex Smith


DROY:

3. Jaylon Johnson
2. Patrick Queen
1. Antoine Winfield Jr.


OROY:

3. Justin Jefferson
2. Joe Burrow
1. Justin Herbeter


DPOY:

3. Marlon Humphrey
2. Aaron Donald
1. Myles Garrett


OPOY:

3. DK Metcalf
2. Alvin Kamara
1. Dalvin Cook


MVP:

3. Russel Wilson
2. Aaron Rodgers
1. Patrick Mahomes

[KCwolf]

[URL="https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/30281292/nfl-midseason-awards-2020-picks-mvp-best-rookies-offensive-defensive-players-year-more"]

[Mecca]

ESPN+ is a mess. We got it with a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ and I can never get it to recognize the Disney+ login credentials.

That's weird I've never had any issues with my bundle.

[L.A. Chieffan]

Bill Barnwell blocked me

[OKchiefs]

ESPN+ is a mess. We got it with a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ and I can never get it to recognize the Disney+ login credentials.

Same here, glad it's not just me.

[ChiefBlueCFC]

Let's hand out midseason NFL awards. These picks are solely a product of what we've seen from the first half of the season; in other words, they're the selections for who I think should win the award if the season ended today, not projections of who will win come February. I made quarter-season award picks back in October at the end of Week 4, which you can read here.


I made picks for Coach of the Year and other awards then, but this time, I'm just focusing on the players. Just two of my winners from the first quarter carried over to the midway point of the season, and only one award is locked up as we sit here in mid-November. We'll start with that one and work our way toward league MVP:

Jump to an award:
MVP | Comeback Player
Defensive Player | Offensive Player
Defensive Rookie | Offensive Rookie


Comeback Player of the Year
My pick at the quarter-season mark was Cam Newton, but the combination of the coronavirus and middling play pushes the Patriots quarterback out of the top three. Other candidates have faded; Chiefs guard Kelechi Osemele is out for the year after tearing tendons in both of his knees, while 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon has had an inconsistent role while struggling with "tired legs." As a result, two players who weren't on the field at all during the first two weeks of the season make it into the three top choices here:


3. Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers

The quarterback on the league's best team is almost always an MVP candidate, so with the Steelers at 8-0, we're beginning to see chatter about whether Roethlisberger belongs in that race. He deserves credit for getting back on the field after undergoing elbow surgery, which is why the future Hall of Famer is in the top three here. He also has been relatively efficient; he has thrown 18 touchdowns against four picks, is completing more than 68% of his passes and led his third fourth-quarter comeback of the season in Sunday's victory over the Cowboys.

EDITOR'S PICKS

NFL playoff picture: Can the Steelers hold off the Chiefs, Ravens and Bills in the second half?

NFL Week 9 takeaways: Bills get signature win, while Chiefs avoid upset

Judging Week 9 NFL overreactions: Are the Bills legit? Is Dalvin Cook the best RB?
At the same time, Roethlisberger just hasn't been hugely important for the Steelers. He's 15th in the league in attempts per game, so it's hard to make the case that he's absorbing enormous volume. The 38-year-old is 27th in yards per attempt, in part because he has been inefficient throwing deep, where he ranks 27th in completion percentage and 28th in yards per throw. The three comeback victories are impressive, and a Roethlisberger-led drive helped the Steelers beat the Ravens, but the two other narrow wins were against the Texans and Cowboys, who are a combined 4-13. He has been solid, but he's not an MVP candidate yet.


2. Jason Verrett, CB, San Francisco 49ers
Verrett's career was all but over after missing 58 games from 2016 to 2019. The 5-foot-10 corner played only four defensive snaps in 2019, giving up a 32-yard pass interference penalty and a 39-yard touchdown in the process. When the 49ers re-signed Verrett to a one-year deal this offseason, it seemed like little more than a shot in the dark for a player whose perseverance had outlasted his ability to perform at an NFL level.

Injuries opened a hole in the lineup for Verrett in Week 3, and he has been a revelation ever since. The TCU product struggled during Thursday night's loss to the Packers, but so did everybody else on the roster. Even with those numbers in his season-long totals, the former Chargers standout has allowed a passer rating of 77.2 in coverage, one of the best marks in football. Even more importantly, he has been able to play week in and week out as something close to an every-down cornerback. It has been a remarkable turn of events.


1. Alex Smith, QB, Washington Football Team
Of course, what Verrett and Roethlisberger have done has been fantastic, but their returns probably wouldn't qualify as medical miracles. Smith's return from 17 surgeries after breaking his leg is an incredible story that transcends even the vast majority of serious football injuries. The idea that Smith would even be able to consider returning to football seemed off the cards, let alone actually playing in an NFL game.

He did just that in returning against the Rams in Week 5, and he followed that by making another appearance for the injured Kyle Allen on Sunday against the Giants. While Smith spent most of the game against the Rams trying to avoid Aaron Donald, he nearly led Washington back from a 20-3 deficit against the Giants by going 24-of-32 for 325 yards with a touchdown to Terry McLaurin. Unfortunately, he also threw three picks, and while the first one came when his target fell down, the second and third interceptions came with Washington moving into range for what would have been a game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter.


Alex Smith has thrown for 362 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions this season, his first game action since November 2018. Photo by Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

It looks like Smith will get more chances; with Allen sidelined indefinitely by a dislocated ankle, the former first overall pick is expected to play ahead of Dwayne Haskins and make his first start of the season against the Lions next Sunday. With the team at 2-6 in the NFC East with a win over the first-place Eagles on its résumé, it's not even out of the question that Smith could win a division title as Washington's new starting quarterback. Regardless of what happens next, though, he won this award for me the moment he stepped back onto a field.


Defensive Rookie of the Year
This hasn't been a great year for rookies, who had to jump straight into the fires of the regular season without the benefits of minicamps or preseason action. As a result, some of the league's most prominent defensive draftees haven't lived up to early expectations. Second overall pick Chase Young (Washington) recorded his first sack since Week 2 on Sunday. Third overall selection Jeff Okudah (Detroit) was taken out of the starting lineup briefly after two rough games to start his career, although the cornerback has been better in recent weeks. Eighth overall pick Isaiah Simmons (Arizona) has played just 80 defensive snaps across his first seven games, 32 of which came Sunday.

I'm not casting any long-term aspersions about those players' chances of succeeding, but every team hopes its top-10 pick is a star from Week 1 on. As a result, the top three at the midway point looks similar to what we saw after four weeks:


3. Jaylon Johnson, CB, Chicago Bears
I'm still really impressed with what I'm seeing from Johnson, who has been the best rookie cornerback in the league this season. The second-round pick was allowing a passer rating of 90.9 in coverage heading into Sunday's game with Tennessee. He has broken up 12 passes, which is tied for second in the league behind Bucs star Carlton Davis.

Johnson has committed four pass interference penalties, which is ... also second in the league behind Davis. He doesn't have any interceptions, although two of his breakups created picks for other players. He hasn't been perfect, but he has immediately stepped in and looked like he belongs on one of the league's better defenses, which is a victory for a Bears team that looked awfully thin at corner after Artie Burns tore his ACL in August.


2. Patrick Queen, LB, Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens weren't exactly lacking defensive playmakers with the likes of Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters in their secondary, but Queen has stepped in and become yet another difference-maker on one of the league's best defenses. He was already in the top three before Week 5, when he forced and recovered a fumble from college teammate Joe Burrow in the first half before returning another fumble to the house in the fourth quarter, earning him Defensive Player of the Week honors.

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There are plays in which Queen still looks like a player learning his craft. He can be susceptible to play fakes as a coverage defender or misdirection against the run, which is true of just about every rookie linebacker. The difference is that Queen has the athleticism to catch up and cover for his few mistakes. He wasn't quite an every-down player before Week 8, but he played 100% of the snaps in the narrow loss to the Steelers. Despite being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list and spending the week out of practice, he played 86% of the snaps in Sunday's win over the Colts. I'd like to see him in place to make a few more tackles, but Queen is an exciting young player for a defense full of exciting young players.


1. Antoine Winfield Jr., S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I thought about dropping Winfield after Sunday night's brutal loss at the hands of the Saints, but I went back a week and remembered that it was the rookie who broke up what would have been the game-tying 2-point conversion by the Giants last Monday. One week earlier, he finally got his first career interception on a tipped pass by Derek Carr after weeks of coming close to a pick.


With two sacks, a forced fumble and four pass deflections over the first nine games, Winfield is filling the stat sheet the way Jamal Adams has in his career. I'm not sure defensive coordinator Todd Bowles uses Winfield in the exact same way he used Adams when he was coaching the Jets in 2018, but Winfield is a player offenses already have to worry about on every single snap. There aren't many NFL defenders at any level of experience who flash on the tape more than Winfield does right now. Not bad for a guy the Bucs chose in the middle of the second round.


Offensive Rookie of the Year
This award, on the other hand, is a brutal fight. I have two quarterbacks as locks, which means there are approximately eight players competing for one spot, including one undrafted free agent in Jaguars running back James Robinson. As much as I think they deserve recognition, I had to leave out a pair of impressive tackles in Mekhi Becton (New York Jets) and Tristan Wirfs (Tampa Bay). Receivers CeeDee Lamb (Dallas) and Brandon Aiyuk (San Francisco) might be on the list if their quarterback situations were settled.

In the end, I landed on two receivers for the third spot:


3. Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
Jefferson beats out Chase Claypool, who has become arguably the most important receiver on the league's only undefeated team. Claypool's four-touchdown game against the Eagles last month instantly put the Notre Dame product on national radars, and his touchdown against the Ravens last week turned out to be the game winner.

ESPN Daily podcast: Bill Barnwell wraps up Week 9

At the same time, don't sleep on what Jefferson has done. Since he entered the starting lineup in Week 3, the only players who are averaging more receiving yards per game than the rookie are Davante Adams and DK Metcalf. Nobody in the NFL has averaged more yards per route run than Jefferson, who tops Adams and George Kittle by averaging 3.62 yards per route over that time frame.

Jefferson is the first rookie since the merger with two 150-plus-yard games in the first half of his debut season, and while I don't want to be mean, he's doing this with Kirk Cousins as his quarterback. The trade that essentially sent Stefon Diggs to the Bills for the rights to draft Jefferson is turning out to be the most significant win-win swap in recent memory. A Buffalo team that needed a receiver to put it over the top got Diggs, who has been a reliable target for Josh Allen. The cap-strapped Vikings appear to have found a devastating deep threat in the 21-year-old Jefferson.


2. Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
The No. 1 overall pick continues to get better as the season goes along. He was overmatched behind a porous offensive line in the blowout loss to the Ravens, but in the three games since, he has posted a Total QBR of 81.7, coming in just ahead of Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill. Nobody completed more passes between Week 6 and Week 8 than Burrow, who has had to shoulder a significant workload in Cincinnati.

While the Bengals haven't been able to hold on to leads, he continues to put the team in a position to win or extend games. Go week by week:

In Week 1, Burrow drove the team 82 yards and threw a game-winning touchdown to A.J. Green, only for the play to be called back for offensive pass interference. Randy Bullock then missed what would have been a game-tying field goal on the next play with 7 seconds left.

In Week 3, he set up short field goals to push the Bengals up 23-16 with 3:08 to go, only for the defense to allow a Carson Wentz rushing touchdown in what ended up as a tie.

In Week 6, he drove the Bengals into position for a lead-taking field goal in the fourth quarter by competing five passes for 56 yards. They then failed to convert with runs on second-and-3 and third-and-1, and Bullock missed a 48-yard try.

In Week 7, he led an 80-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to take the lead, and when his defense gave up a score, he led a 75-yard drive for a second touchdown. The Cincinnati defense blew that lead when Baker Mayfield threw a game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds left.

The Bengals are 2-5-1, but they could easily have a winning record with slightly more help around Burrow.


Justin Herbert has been a bright spot in the Chargers' season. Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

1. Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers
Of course, we could say the same thing about Herbert, whose Chargers apparently used all their luck in overcoming the Bengals in Week 1. Herbert was installed as the starter on an emergency basis the following week and took the job by the horns. He has mostly been brilliant since taking over, although hard luck, defensive collapses, special-teams fiascos and ill-timed drops have seen the Chargers drop six of his first seven starts.

Herbert is 12th in the league in Total QBR since taking over, with his 76.4 mark coming in between Tom Brady and Deshaun Watson over that same time frame. He's doing that behind an offensive line that has been without star guard Trai Turner for most of the season and key tackle Bryan Bulaga for four games. On the final drive of the game Sunday against the Raiders, Herbert threw nine straight passes to running backs Joshua Kelley and Kalen Ballage, who are respectively the third- and fifth-choice options at the position. His final pass of the game was a fade to backup tight end Donald Parham, who dropped a would-be game winner.


What's incredible with Herbert is just how easy he makes incredibly difficult plays seem. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, he successfully executed a fourth-and-1 speed option with a Raiders defender coming down at full speed to keep the game alive. After checking down and in desperate need of a big play, the No. 6 overall pick found Mike Williams for a big catch, just as he did with a perfectly thrown ball against the Saints. Then, the Chargers missed a game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. Here, the Chargers called two goal-line fades, got two excellent throws from Herbert and didn't bring in either. My first thought after watching most Chargers games is how their fans deserve better. My second is that their young quarterback does, too.


Defensive Player of the Year
As was the case with Offensive Rookie of the Year, I knew I had two players who were locked into spots. I have to include the most productive interior and edge rushers in the league, which means I have one spot for everyone else. With all due respect to Fred Warner (San Francisco), I don't think I'm in position to nominate a linebacker. T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh) narrowly slipped out when he allowed a touchdown pass as the primary defender in coverage against Garrett Gilbert on Sunday, although it's also probably telling that the Steelers actually trust him in the flat against CeeDee Lamb on third down. He could easily win this award with a hot second half.

I was left with two cornerbacks, each of whom didn't have the Week 9 they might have expected. In the end, I went with ...


3. Marlon Humphrey, CB, Baltimore Ravens
Humphrey narrowly beats out Tampa Bay's Carlton Davis, who was allowing an unreal passer rating of 50.6 as Tampa's best cornerback before Sunday's loss to the Saints. Davis didn't slip because of what happened against New Orleans -- NFL Next Gen Stats credit him as allowing four completions on five targets for 43 yards -- but because of the penalties. He has a league-leading four interceptions, but he also tops the charts with five pass-interference penalties.

Davis is still playing great, but it's easier for me to find a place for Humphrey, who missed Sunday's game with the Colts after testing positive for the coronavirus. Before Week 9, he had been arguably the best player on one of the league's best defenses. The fourth-year corner has allowed a passer rating of 76.5 in coverage while helping to erase star wideouts such as Will Fuller from games. Humphrey just has a lone pick over the first two months, but he has racked up 2.5 sacks as a blitzer and forced four fumbles. Charles Tillman can't even say he forced four fumbles over the first seven games of a season.


2. Aaron Donald, DT, Los Angeles Rams
What Donald has done in the first half of 2020 would qualify as a great season for most players. We take it for granted from the future Hall of Famer. He has nine sacks and 15 knockdowns as the Rams hit their bye, including a four-sack performance against Washington and at least a half-sack in six of his eight appearances. The only defenders in the league with more knockdowns are T.J. Watt and Stephon Tuitt.

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Advanced metrics also love Donald. His 21.4% pass rush win rate as an interior defender is second in the league behind Grady Jarrett, and when you include the takedowns he has created for other players, nobody has produced more sacks than Donald's 11. He has also quietly rated out as an above-average run defender by run stop win rate, ranking 12th this season. He is, fundamentally, the most disruptive defender in football.


1. Myles Garrett, DE, Cleveland Browns
No defender, though, has had more of an impact on his team than Garrett. Tied for the league lead alongside Donald with nine sacks, Garrett has added four forced fumbles. Here's what those fumbles did:

A Garrett strip sack of Joe Burrow in Week 2 gave the Browns the ball on the Cincinnati 1-yard line. They scored a touchdown two plays later in a game they would eventually win 35-30.

Another Garrett strip sack of Dwayne Haskins gave the Browns the ball in midfield halfway through the fourth quarter, although they already led by 11 points and would win comfortably.

A third Garrett strip sack, this time of Dak Prescott, handed the ball to the Browns on the Dallas 34-yard line. They scored a touchdown four plays later to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish, although Prescott would eventually get the Cowboys within three points in the fourth quarter.

One final Garrett strip sack of Burrow gave the Browns the ball on Cincinnati's 33-yard line in the first quarter. They would kick a field goal and get an extra possession in a game where they scored a touchdown to win with 16 seconds left. It's impossible to say how the game would have gone if Garrett hadn't created that opportunity, but the Browns won by ... three points.


Garrett has nine sacks. The rest of his team has 11 combined. The Browns are 5-3 and on the edge of the playoff picture, in no small part because of what their former first overall pick has done to shift games. Here's hoping the bye week calms down the knee issue that limited him in the Week 8 loss to the Raiders, because I want to see what a healthy Garrett can do for 16 games.


Offensive Player of the Year
As you know if you've read these awards columns, the league seems to alternate between handing out this award to the same quarterback who wins MVP or a non-quarterback skill-position player. To keep things interesting -- and because all three of my MVP picks are quarterbacks -- I'm going to go with the latter and nominate three non-passers.

My opinion here is that there are three running backs way ahead of the pack at their position and then something in the ballpark of eight receivers who could conceivably garner attention. Stefon Diggs (Buffalo) leads the league in receiving yards. He just misses out. Tyreek Hill (Kansas City) has 10 touchdowns in nine games. He's not here. Davante Adams (Green Bay) has played six games and topped 150 yards three times. If only because he has missed a third of the season, he's out. I ended up with two backs and one receiver in my top three:


3. DK Metcalf, WR, Seattle Seahawks
I mean, you've seen Metcalf this season, right? I don't need to tell you he has been great, but it has been more eventful than you might remember. Metcalf beat reigning Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore for a 54-yard touchdown in Week 2. He fumbled one touchdown out of the end zone against the Cowboys and then came back to score the game winner with 1:55 to go. Two weeks later, he converted a fourth-and-10 on the final drive for 39 yards and then scored the game winner with 20 seconds left. Even in his one quiet game of the year against the Cardinals, he produced a now-legendary chase-down tackle of Budda Baker to save a touchdown and then came within a holding penalty of scoring a third game-winning touchdown in overtime.

play
2:02
Montana gives Wilson advice on building a relationship with MetcalfRussell Wilson asks Joe Montana for advice on how to build a historic relationship with his receiver DK Metcalf, like Montana did with Jerry Rice.
Metcalf is second in the league in receiving yards to Diggs and tied for second in receiving touchdowns behind Hill. The Seahawks have an accomplished wideout alongside Metcalf in Tyler Lockett, but it has been telling to see who teams like the Patriots (Gilmore), Cardinals (Patrick Peterson) and Bills (Tre'Davious White) have preferred to use their top cornerback on in 2020. Despite the attention, Metcalf's 108-yard day on Sunday means he'll finish the first half with seven games of 90 yards or more. Only five players since the merger have pulled that off over the first eight games of their season: Antonio Brown, Dwight Clark, Marvin Harrison, Michael Irvin and Adam Thielen. The 22-year-old has quickly gotten into some remarkable company.


2. Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints
The big-three back who misses out here is Tennessee's Derrick Henry, mostly because of his inconsistency. He had that massive 212-yard game against the Jaguars, but he also has had five games without hitting 4 yards per carry, including a 21-carry, 68-yard performance against the Bears on Sunday. Henry was ninth in success rate heading into the week, but he's averaging just over 10 yards per game as a receiver.

On the other hand, Kamara has been the centerpiece of the Saints' offense without Michael Thomas in the fold. He leads the league in yards from scrimmage (1,036) and had twice as many receiving DYAR as any other back heading into the week. He finished the Sunday night blowout with a modest 49 yards on 14 touches, but he had been averaging 141 yards from scrimmage before Week 9. As an example, Kamara had been more productive on a snap-by-snap basis than Christian McCaffrey was last season, and he hasn't had the benefit of garbage time since Week 3.


Dalvin Cook has 13 touchdowns in seven games, including two against the Lions in Week 9. Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images

1. Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota Vikings
Perhaps it's recency bias, but I just can't get past what Cook has done since returning from a groin injury. The Vikings traded pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue and were seemingly giving up on their season, but Cook is carrying them back into playoff contention. After racking up 226 yards and four touchdowns from scrimmage in a 28-22 victory over the Packers, he followed it with 252 yards from scrimmage and two scores in Sunday's rout of the Lions. The Florida State product topped 200 rushing yards and could have made a run for 250 if Minnesota hadn't rested him for most of the fourth quarter.


Despite missing one game and a chunk of a second, Cook now leads the league in rushing yards and is within 5 yards of Kamara for the scrimmage crown. He has 12 rushing touchdowns over the first half of the season. The last guys to do that were Shaun Alexander and LaDainian Tomlinson in their MVP seasons of 2005 and 2006, respectively, and they each played a full eight-game slate. Cook has even tossed in 109 yards and a receiving touchdown over the past two weeks. Injuries seem to be the only thing capable of slowing him down.


Most Valuable Player
Realistically, this comes down to how you order the top three as opposed to whom you might include. I've seen arguments in local markets for different players, but there's a big gap between the top three and everyone else. Kyler Murray has been magical as a runner and made some huge plays, but he has been inconsistent as a passer and struggled to protect the football. Tom Brady ranks 16th in QBR and 24th in yards per attempt. Ryan Tannehill only throws the ball just under 32 times per game, which leaves a volume gap of about 15% from week to week when compared to the guys in our big three. He hasn't quite been efficient enough to make up for not throwing the ball as frequently as other passers.

There are two honorable mentions. Drew Brees struggled to start the season, and I was concerned about his accuracy after a slow start, but he has looked just fine after an inconsistent September. Since Week 4, his 85.0 QBR is the best in football. He's still throwing 20 or more yards downfield a league-low 3.3% of the time, but his downfield passing rate doesn't matter if he is completing something in the ballpark of 75% of his pass attempts. Since Week 4, the Saints star is at 76.2%. That'll do.

Josh Allen was in my top three during the quarter-season awards, and then this happened:


Of course, Allen responded on Sunday by torching the Seahawks. With the Bills producing one of the most pass-happy game plans in league history, he went 31-of-38 for 415 yards and three touchdowns before adding a fourth on the ground. In arresting a four-game slump and beating the Seahawks, he planted himself back in the MVP picture, albeit one step behind the top three:


3. Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks
The guy Allen beat on Sunday also has fallen down the rankings. Wilson was my pick through four weeks and a huge favorite through the first half of the Cardinals game in Week 7. Since then, while he has made some big plays, he also has turned the ball over seven times, including three giveaways in the second half to let Arizona back in the game and four against the Bills on Sunday. As good as he has been this year, those turnovers -- and brutally bad work in the secondary -- have led to Seattle's two losses.

In the big picture, Wilson still has an excellent MVP résumé. He leads the league in touchdown passes (28), has the league's second-lowest off-target percentage (11.9%) and ranks second in both adjusted completion percentage (77.5%) and passer rating (117.1). Factor in his rushing value and he is second in the league in expected points added per play. It's one thing to complete 70-plus percent of your passes when you're throwing short passes like Brees, but Wilson is completing 71.1% of his throws despite the fact that his average pass is traveling nearly 9 yards in the air. As a result, Wilson's CPOE is 6.7% above expectation, the highest mark in the league. If it weren't for that recent rash of turnovers, the Seahawks might be 8-0 and Wilson would be an easy MVP pick.

We're left with two candidates: Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers. I'll reveal my pick at the end, but I just want to clarify how difficult of a choice this is by making a few comparisons.

Rodgers has a QBR of 86.9, the best mark in football. Mahomes has a QBR of 85.0, the second-best mark in football.

Rodgers has a passer rating of 117.5, the best mark in football. Mahomes has a passer rating of 115.9, the third-best mark in football.

Rodgers converts 41.1% of his pass attempts into first downs, the third-best mark in the league. Mahomes converts 41.0% of his pass attempts into first downs, the fourth-best rate in the league. (Cousins and Wilson are just ahead of them, although their first-down rate also rounds to 41.1%.)

Rodgers has been sacked on 3.0% of his dropbacks. Mahomes has been sacked on 3.0% of his dropbacks.


ESPN Illustration
Rodgers is either tied with Mahomes or narrowly ahead with those statistics, so you can make a case that the 36-year-old should be league MVP. I wouldn't protest too much if you felt that way. I'm picking Mahomes, though, because I can see three arguments in the 25-year-old's favor:

Volume. Mahomes has thrown 329 passes at a similar level of efficiency to Rodgers' 280. He also has played an extra game, so Mahomes is at an advantage there, but the Chiefs star is more than 430 passing yards ahead of the Packers standout. Mahomes is averaging about 18 passing yards per game more than his Green Bay counterpart.

Rushing ability. Mahomes has generated 9.53 expected points added on just 27 attempts, ranking seventh among quarterbacks. That's more than double Rodgers' mark of 4.63 EPA on 11 tries. Mahomes has scrambled or run for nine first downs to Rodgers' five.

Takeaways. It seems impossible that Rodgers could even consider losing a turnover battle against another quarterback, but Mahomes is special. Rodgers has turned the ball over three times in eight games, with two interceptions against the Buccaneers and a fumble against the Vikings. You might notice that these are the Packers' only losses. Despite taking a heavier workload and running the ball more frequently, Mahomes has just one interception to his name through nine weeks. The football genius is running a 25-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, with his only pick coming on fourth-and-7 down nine points against the Raiders. He also fumbled once against the Bills, only for the ball to stay with Kansas City.

For whatever perception there has been that the Chiefs aren't playing at top gear or at the highest level for stretches on offense this season, Mahomes has been untouchable. The only way teams have stopped him has been by selling out to stop the pass and handing the Chiefs easy running lanes, which led to a pair of big games for rookie back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Mahomes is on pace for 4,777 passing yards, 44 touchdowns and two picks. He's unreal, and through the first half of the season, it's Mahomes who narrowly beats Rodgers and Wilson to be my pick for league MVP.


2. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

1. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs

[carcosa]

[URL="https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/30281292/nfl-midseason-awards-2020-picks-mvp-best-rookies-offensive-defensive-players-year-more"]

TAke a look, y'all

[carcosa]

Let's hand out midseason NFL awards. These picks are solely a product of what we've seen from the first half of the season; in other words, they're the selections for who I think should win the award if the season ended today, not projections of who will win come February. I made quarter-season award picks back in October at the end of Week 4, which you can read here.


I made picks for Coach of the Year and other awards then, but this time, I'm just focusing on the players. Just two of my winners from the first quarter carried over to the midway point of the season, and only one award is locked up as we sit here in mid-November. We'll start with that one and work our way toward league MVP:

Jump to an award:
MVP | Comeback Player
Defensive Player | Offensive Player
Defensive Rookie | Offensive Rookie


Comeback Player of the Year
My pick at the quarter-season mark was Cam Newton, but the combination of the coronavirus and middling play pushes the Patriots quarterback out of the top three. Other candidates have faded; Chiefs guard Kelechi Osemele is out for the year after tearing tendons in both of his knees, while 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon has had an inconsistent role while struggling with "tired legs." As a result, two players who weren't on the field at all during the first two weeks of the season make it into the three top choices here:


3. Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers

The quarterback on the league's best team is almost always an MVP candidate, so with the Steelers at 8-0, we're beginning to see chatter about whether Roethlisberger belongs in that race. He deserves credit for getting back on the field after undergoing elbow surgery, which is why the future Hall of Famer is in the top three here. He also has been relatively efficient; he has thrown 18 touchdowns against four picks, is completing more than 68% of his passes and led his third fourth-quarter comeback of the season in Sunday's victory over the Cowboys.

EDITOR'S PICKS

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At the same time, Roethlisberger just hasn't been hugely important for the Steelers. He's 15th in the league in attempts per game, so it's hard to make the case that he's absorbing enormous volume. The 38-year-old is 27th in yards per attempt, in part because he has been inefficient throwing deep, where he ranks 27th in completion percentage and 28th in yards per throw. The three comeback victories are impressive, and a Roethlisberger-led drive helped the Steelers beat the Ravens, but the two other narrow wins were against the Texans and Cowboys, who are a combined 4-13. He has been solid, but he's not an MVP candidate yet.


2. Jason Verrett, CB, San Francisco 49ers
Verrett's career was all but over after missing 58 games from 2016 to 2019. The 5-foot-10 corner played only four defensive snaps in 2019, giving up a 32-yard pass interference penalty and a 39-yard touchdown in the process. When the 49ers re-signed Verrett to a one-year deal this offseason, it seemed like little more than a shot in the dark for a player whose perseverance had outlasted his ability to perform at an NFL level.

Injuries opened a hole in the lineup for Verrett in Week 3, and he has been a revelation ever since. The TCU product struggled during Thursday night's loss to the Packers, but so did everybody else on the roster. Even with those numbers in his season-long totals, the former Chargers standout has allowed a passer rating of 77.2 in coverage, one of the best marks in football. Even more importantly, he has been able to play week in and week out as something close to an every-down cornerback. It has been a remarkable turn of events.


1. Alex Smith, QB, Washington Football Team
Of course, what Verrett and Roethlisberger have done has been fantastic, but their returns probably wouldn't qualify as medical miracles. Smith's return from 17 surgeries after breaking his leg is an incredible story that transcends even the vast majority of serious football injuries. The idea that Smith would even be able to consider returning to football seemed off the cards, let alone actually playing in an NFL game.

He did just that in returning against the Rams in Week 5, and he followed that by making another appearance for the injured Kyle Allen on Sunday against the Giants. While Smith spent most of the game against the Rams trying to avoid Aaron Donald, he nearly led Washington back from a 20-3 deficit against the Giants by going 24-of-32 for 325 yards with a touchdown to Terry McLaurin. Unfortunately, he also threw three picks, and while the first one came when his target fell down, the second and third interceptions came with Washington moving into range for what would have been a game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter.


Alex Smith has thrown for 362 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions this season, his first game action since November 2018. Photo by Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports

It looks like Smith will get more chances; with Allen sidelined indefinitely by a dislocated ankle, the former first overall pick is expected to play ahead of Dwayne Haskins and make his first start of the season against the Lions next Sunday. With the team at 2-6 in the NFC East with a win over the first-place Eagles on its résumé, it's not even out of the question that Smith could win a division title as Washington's new starting quarterback. Regardless of what happens next, though, he won this award for me the moment he stepped back onto a field.


Defensive Rookie of the Year
This hasn't been a great year for rookies, who had to jump straight into the fires of the regular season without the benefits of minicamps or preseason action. As a result, some of the league's most prominent defensive draftees haven't lived up to early expectations. Second overall pick Chase Young (Washington) recorded his first sack since Week 2 on Sunday. Third overall selection Jeff Okudah (Detroit) was taken out of the starting lineup briefly after two rough games to start his career, although the cornerback has been better in recent weeks. Eighth overall pick Isaiah Simmons (Arizona) has played just 80 defensive snaps across his first seven games, 32 of which came Sunday.

I'm not casting any long-term aspersions about those players' chances of succeeding, but every team hopes its top-10 pick is a star from Week 1 on. As a result, the top three at the midway point looks similar to what we saw after four weeks:


3. Jaylon Johnson, CB, Chicago Bears
I'm still really impressed with what I'm seeing from Johnson, who has been the best rookie cornerback in the league this season. The second-round pick was allowing a passer rating of 90.9 in coverage heading into Sunday's game with Tennessee. He has broken up 12 passes, which is tied for second in the league behind Bucs star Carlton Davis.

Johnson has committed four pass interference penalties, which is ... also second in the league behind Davis. He doesn't have any interceptions, although two of his breakups created picks for other players. He hasn't been perfect, but he has immediately stepped in and looked like he belongs on one of the league's better defenses, which is a victory for a Bears team that looked awfully thin at corner after Artie Burns tore his ACL in August.


2. Patrick Queen, LB, Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens weren't exactly lacking defensive playmakers with the likes of Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Peters in their secondary, but Queen has stepped in and become yet another difference-maker on one of the league's best defenses. He was already in the top three before Week 5, when he forced and recovered a fumble from college teammate Joe Burrow in the first half before returning another fumble to the house in the fourth quarter, earning him Defensive Player of the Week honors.

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There are plays in which Queen still looks like a player learning his craft. He can be susceptible to play fakes as a coverage defender or misdirection against the run, which is true of just about every rookie linebacker. The difference is that Queen has the athleticism to catch up and cover for his few mistakes. He wasn't quite an every-down player before Week 8, but he played 100% of the snaps in the narrow loss to the Steelers. Despite being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list and spending the week out of practice, he played 86% of the snaps in Sunday's win over the Colts. I'd like to see him in place to make a few more tackles, but Queen is an exciting young player for a defense full of exciting young players.


1. Antoine Winfield Jr., S, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I thought about dropping Winfield after Sunday night's brutal loss at the hands of the Saints, but I went back a week and remembered that it was the rookie who broke up what would have been the game-tying 2-point conversion by the Giants last Monday. One week earlier, he finally got his first career interception on a tipped pass by Derek Carr after weeks of coming close to a pick.


With two sacks, a forced fumble and four pass deflections over the first nine games, Winfield is filling the stat sheet the way Jamal Adams has in his career. I'm not sure defensive coordinator Todd Bowles uses Winfield in the exact same way he used Adams when he was coaching the Jets in 2018, but Winfield is a player offenses already have to worry about on every single snap. There aren't many NFL defenders at any level of experience who flash on the tape more than Winfield does right now. Not bad for a guy the Bucs chose in the middle of the second round.


Offensive Rookie of the Year
This award, on the other hand, is a brutal fight. I have two quarterbacks as locks, which means there are approximately eight players competing for one spot, including one undrafted free agent in Jaguars running back James Robinson. As much as I think they deserve recognition, I had to leave out a pair of impressive tackles in Mekhi Becton (New York Jets) and Tristan Wirfs (Tampa Bay). Receivers CeeDee Lamb (Dallas) and Brandon Aiyuk (San Francisco) might be on the list if their quarterback situations were settled.

In the end, I landed on two receivers for the third spot:


3. Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings
Jefferson beats out Chase Claypool, who has become arguably the most important receiver on the league's only undefeated team. Claypool's four-touchdown game against the Eagles last month instantly put the Notre Dame product on national radars, and his touchdown against the Ravens last week turned out to be the game winner.

ESPN Daily podcast: Bill Barnwell wraps up Week 9

At the same time, don't sleep on what Jefferson has done. Since he entered the starting lineup in Week 3, the only players who are averaging more receiving yards per game than the rookie are Davante Adams and DK Metcalf. Nobody in the NFL has averaged more yards per route run than Jefferson, who tops Adams and George Kittle by averaging 3.62 yards per route over that time frame.

Jefferson is the first rookie since the merger with two 150-plus-yard games in the first half of his debut season, and while I don't want to be mean, he's doing this with Kirk Cousins as his quarterback. The trade that essentially sent Stefon Diggs to the Bills for the rights to draft Jefferson is turning out to be the most significant win-win swap in recent memory. A Buffalo team that needed a receiver to put it over the top got Diggs, who has been a reliable target for Josh Allen. The cap-strapped Vikings appear to have found a devastating deep threat in the 21-year-old Jefferson.


2. Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
The No. 1 overall pick continues to get better as the season goes along. He was overmatched behind a porous offensive line in the blowout loss to the Ravens, but in the three games since, he has posted a Total QBR of 81.7, coming in just ahead of Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill. Nobody completed more passes between Week 6 and Week 8 than Burrow, who has had to shoulder a significant workload in Cincinnati.

While the Bengals haven't been able to hold on to leads, he continues to put the team in a position to win or extend games. Go week by week:

In Week 1, Burrow drove the team 82 yards and threw a game-winning touchdown to A.J. Green, only for the play to be called back for offensive pass interference. Randy Bullock then missed what would have been a game-tying field goal on the next play with 7 seconds left.

In Week 3, he set up short field goals to push the Bengals up 23-16 with 3:08 to go, only for the defense to allow a Carson Wentz rushing touchdown in what ended up as a tie.

In Week 6, he drove the Bengals into position for a lead-taking field goal in the fourth quarter by competing five passes for 56 yards. They then failed to convert with runs on second-and-3 and third-and-1, and Bullock missed a 48-yard try.

In Week 7, he led an 80-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to take the lead, and when his defense gave up a score, he led a 75-yard drive for a second touchdown. The Cincinnati defense blew that lead when Baker Mayfield threw a game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds left.

The Bengals are 2-5-1, but they could easily have a winning record with slightly more help around Burrow.


Justin Herbert has been a bright spot in the Chargers' season. Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

1. Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers
Of course, we could say the same thing about Herbert, whose Chargers apparently used all their luck in overcoming the Bengals in Week 1. Herbert was installed as the starter on an emergency basis the following week and took the job by the horns. He has mostly been brilliant since taking over, although hard luck, defensive collapses, special-teams fiascos and ill-timed drops have seen the Chargers drop six of his first seven starts.

Herbert is 12th in the league in Total QBR since taking over, with his 76.4 mark coming in between Tom Brady and Deshaun Watson over that same time frame. He's doing that behind an offensive line that has been without star guard Trai Turner for most of the season and key tackle Bryan Bulaga for four games. On the final drive of the game Sunday against the Raiders, Herbert threw nine straight passes to running backs Joshua Kelley and Kalen Ballage, who are respectively the third- and fifth-choice options at the position. His final pass of the game was a fade to backup tight end Donald Parham, who dropped a would-be game winner.


What's incredible with Herbert is just how easy he makes incredibly difficult plays seem. With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, he successfully executed a fourth-and-1 speed option with a Raiders defender coming down at full speed to keep the game alive. After checking down and in desperate need of a big play, the No. 6 overall pick found Mike Williams for a big catch, just as he did with a perfectly thrown ball against the Saints. Then, the Chargers missed a game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. Here, the Chargers called two goal-line fades, got two excellent throws from Herbert and didn't bring in either. My first thought after watching most Chargers games is how their fans deserve better. My second is that their young quarterback does, too.


Defensive Player of the Year
As was the case with Offensive Rookie of the Year, I knew I had two players who were locked into spots. I have to include the most productive interior and edge rushers in the league, which means I have one spot for everyone else. With all due respect to Fred Warner (San Francisco), I don't think I'm in position to nominate a linebacker. T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh) narrowly slipped out when he allowed a touchdown pass as the primary defender in coverage against Garrett Gilbert on Sunday, although it's also probably telling that the Steelers actually trust him in the flat against CeeDee Lamb on third down. He could easily win this award with a hot second half.

I was left with two cornerbacks, each of whom didn't have the Week 9 they might have expected. In the end, I went with ...


3. Marlon Humphrey, CB, Baltimore Ravens
Humphrey narrowly beats out Tampa Bay's Carlton Davis, who was allowing an unreal passer rating of 50.6 as Tampa's best cornerback before Sunday's loss to the Saints. Davis didn't slip because of what happened against New Orleans -- NFL Next Gen Stats credit him as allowing four completions on five targets for 43 yards -- but because of the penalties. He has a league-leading four interceptions, but he also tops the charts with five pass-interference penalties.

Davis is still playing great, but it's easier for me to find a place for Humphrey, who missed Sunday's game with the Colts after testing positive for the coronavirus. Before Week 9, he had been arguably the best player on one of the league's best defenses. The fourth-year corner has allowed a passer rating of 76.5 in coverage while helping to erase star wideouts such as Will Fuller from games. Humphrey just has a lone pick over the first two months, but he has racked up 2.5 sacks as a blitzer and forced four fumbles. Charles Tillman can't even say he forced four fumbles over the first seven games of a season.


2. Aaron Donald, DT, Los Angeles Rams
What Donald has done in the first half of 2020 would qualify as a great season for most players. We take it for granted from the future Hall of Famer. He has nine sacks and 15 knockdowns as the Rams hit their bye, including a four-sack performance against Washington and at least a half-sack in six of his eight appearances. The only defenders in the league with more knockdowns are T.J. Watt and Stephon Tuitt.

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Advanced metrics also love Donald. His 21.4% pass rush win rate as an interior defender is second in the league behind Grady Jarrett, and when you include the takedowns he has created for other players, nobody has produced more sacks than Donald's 11. He has also quietly rated out as an above-average run defender by run stop win rate, ranking 12th this season. He is, fundamentally, the most disruptive defender in football.


1. Myles Garrett, DE, Cleveland Browns
No defender, though, has had more of an impact on his team than Garrett. Tied for the league lead alongside Donald with nine sacks, Garrett has added four forced fumbles. Here's what those fumbles did:

A Garrett strip sack of Joe Burrow in Week 2 gave the Browns the ball on the Cincinnati 1-yard line. They scored a touchdown two plays later in a game they would eventually win 35-30.

Another Garrett strip sack of Dwayne Haskins gave the Browns the ball in midfield halfway through the fourth quarter, although they already led by 11 points and would win comfortably.

A third Garrett strip sack, this time of Dak Prescott, handed the ball to the Browns on the Dallas 34-yard line. They scored a touchdown four plays later to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish, although Prescott would eventually get the Cowboys within three points in the fourth quarter.

One final Garrett strip sack of Burrow gave the Browns the ball on Cincinnati's 33-yard line in the first quarter. They would kick a field goal and get an extra possession in a game where they scored a touchdown to win with 16 seconds left. It's impossible to say how the game would have gone if Garrett hadn't created that opportunity, but the Browns won by ... three points.


Garrett has nine sacks. The rest of his team has 11 combined. The Browns are 5-3 and on the edge of the playoff picture, in no small part because of what their former first overall pick has done to shift games. Here's hoping the bye week calms down the knee issue that limited him in the Week 8 loss to the Raiders, because I want to see what a healthy Garrett can do for 16 games.


Offensive Player of the Year
As you know if you've read these awards columns, the league seems to alternate between handing out this award to the same quarterback who wins MVP or a non-quarterback skill-position player. To keep things interesting -- and because all three of my MVP picks are quarterbacks -- I'm going to go with the latter and nominate three non-passers.

My opinion here is that there are three running backs way ahead of the pack at their position and then something in the ballpark of eight receivers who could conceivably garner attention. Stefon Diggs (Buffalo) leads the league in receiving yards. He just misses out. Tyreek Hill (Kansas City) has 10 touchdowns in nine games. He's not here. Davante Adams (Green Bay) has played six games and topped 150 yards three times. If only because he has missed a third of the season, he's out. I ended up with two backs and one receiver in my top three:


3. DK Metcalf, WR, Seattle Seahawks
I mean, you've seen Metcalf this season, right? I don't need to tell you he has been great, but it has been more eventful than you might remember. Metcalf beat reigning Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore for a 54-yard touchdown in Week 2. He fumbled one touchdown out of the end zone against the Cowboys and then came back to score the game winner with 1:55 to go. Two weeks later, he converted a fourth-and-10 on the final drive for 39 yards and then scored the game winner with 20 seconds left. Even in his one quiet game of the year against the Cardinals, he produced a now-legendary chase-down tackle of Budda Baker to save a touchdown and then came within a holding penalty of scoring a third game-winning touchdown in overtime.

play
2:02
Montana gives Wilson advice on building a relationship with MetcalfRussell Wilson asks Joe Montana for advice on how to build a historic relationship with his receiver DK Metcalf, like Montana did with Jerry Rice.
Metcalf is second in the league in receiving yards to Diggs and tied for second in receiving touchdowns behind Hill. The Seahawks have an accomplished wideout alongside Metcalf in Tyler Lockett, but it has been telling to see who teams like the Patriots (Gilmore), Cardinals (Patrick Peterson) and Bills (Tre'Davious White) have preferred to use their top cornerback on in 2020. Despite the attention, Metcalf's 108-yard day on Sunday means he'll finish the first half with seven games of 90 yards or more. Only five players since the merger have pulled that off over the first eight games of their season: Antonio Brown, Dwight Clark, Marvin Harrison, Michael Irvin and Adam Thielen. The 22-year-old has quickly gotten into some remarkable company.


2. Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints
The big-three back who misses out here is Tennessee's Derrick Henry, mostly because of his inconsistency. He had that massive 212-yard game against the Jaguars, but he also has had five games without hitting 4 yards per carry, including a 21-carry, 68-yard performance against the Bears on Sunday. Henry was ninth in success rate heading into the week, but he's averaging just over 10 yards per game as a receiver.

On the other hand, Kamara has been the centerpiece of the Saints' offense without Michael Thomas in the fold. He leads the league in yards from scrimmage (1,036) and had twice as many receiving DYAR as any other back heading into the week. He finished the Sunday night blowout with a modest 49 yards on 14 touches, but he had been averaging 141 yards from scrimmage before Week 9. As an example, Kamara had been more productive on a snap-by-snap basis than Christian McCaffrey was last season, and he hasn't had the benefit of garbage time since Week 3.


Dalvin Cook has 13 touchdowns in seven games, including two against the Lions in Week 9. Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images

1. Dalvin Cook, RB, Minnesota Vikings
Perhaps it's recency bias, but I just can't get past what Cook has done since returning from a groin injury. The Vikings traded pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue and were seemingly giving up on their season, but Cook is carrying them back into playoff contention. After racking up 226 yards and four touchdowns from scrimmage in a 28-22 victory over the Packers, he followed it with 252 yards from scrimmage and two scores in Sunday's rout of the Lions. The Florida State product topped 200 rushing yards and could have made a run for 250 if Minnesota hadn't rested him for most of the fourth quarter.


Despite missing one game and a chunk of a second, Cook now leads the league in rushing yards and is within 5 yards of Kamara for the scrimmage crown. He has 12 rushing touchdowns over the first half of the season. The last guys to do that were Shaun Alexander and LaDainian Tomlinson in their MVP seasons of 2005 and 2006, respectively, and they each played a full eight-game slate. Cook has even tossed in 109 yards and a receiving touchdown over the past two weeks. Injuries seem to be the only thing capable of slowing him down.


Most Valuable Player
Realistically, this comes down to how you order the top three as opposed to whom you might include. I've seen arguments in local markets for different players, but there's a big gap between the top three and everyone else. Kyler Murray has been magical as a runner and made some huge plays, but he has been inconsistent as a passer and struggled to protect the football. Tom Brady ranks 16th in QBR and 24th in yards per attempt. Ryan Tannehill only throws the ball just under 32 times per game, which leaves a volume gap of about 15% from week to week when compared to the guys in our big three. He hasn't quite been efficient enough to make up for not throwing the ball as frequently as other passers.

There are two honorable mentions. Drew Brees struggled to start the season, and I was concerned about his accuracy after a slow start, but he has looked just fine after an inconsistent September. Since Week 4, his 85.0 QBR is the best in football. He's still throwing 20 or more yards downfield a league-low 3.3% of the time, but his downfield passing rate doesn't matter if he is completing something in the ballpark of 75% of his pass attempts. Since Week 4, the Saints star is at 76.2%. That'll do.

Josh Allen was in my top three during the quarter-season awards, and then this happened:


Of course, Allen responded on Sunday by torching the Seahawks. With the Bills producing one of the most pass-happy game plans in league history, he went 31-of-38 for 415 yards and three touchdowns before adding a fourth on the ground. In arresting a four-game slump and beating the Seahawks, he planted himself back in the MVP picture, albeit one step behind the top three:


3. Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks
The guy Allen beat on Sunday also has fallen down the rankings. Wilson was my pick through four weeks and a huge favorite through the first half of the Cardinals game in Week 7. Since then, while he has made some big plays, he also has turned the ball over seven times, including three giveaways in the second half to let Arizona back in the game and four against the Bills on Sunday. As good as he has been this year, those turnovers -- and brutally bad work in the secondary -- have led to Seattle's two losses.

In the big picture, Wilson still has an excellent MVP résumé. He leads the league in touchdown passes (28), has the league's second-lowest off-target percentage (11.9%) and ranks second in both adjusted completion percentage (77.5%) and passer rating (117.1). Factor in his rushing value and he is second in the league in expected points added per play. It's one thing to complete 70-plus percent of your passes when you're throwing short passes like Brees, but Wilson is completing 71.1% of his throws despite the fact that his average pass is traveling nearly 9 yards in the air. As a result, Wilson's CPOE is 6.7% above expectation, the highest mark in the league. If it weren't for that recent rash of turnovers, the Seahawks might be 8-0 and Wilson would be an easy MVP pick.

We're left with two candidates: Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers. I'll reveal my pick at the end, but I just want to clarify how difficult of a choice this is by making a few comparisons.

Rodgers has a QBR of 86.9, the best mark in football. Mahomes has a QBR of 85.0, the second-best mark in football.

Rodgers has a passer rating of 117.5, the best mark in football. Mahomes has a passer rating of 115.9, the third-best mark in football.

Rodgers converts 41.1% of his pass attempts into first downs, the third-best mark in the league. Mahomes converts 41.0% of his pass attempts into first downs, the fourth-best rate in the league. (Cousins and Wilson are just ahead of them, although their first-down rate also rounds to 41.1%.)

Rodgers has been sacked on 3.0% of his dropbacks. Mahomes has been sacked on 3.0% of his dropbacks.


ESPN Illustration
Rodgers is either tied with Mahomes or narrowly ahead with those statistics, so you can make a case that the 36-year-old should be league MVP. I wouldn't protest too much if you felt that way. I'm picking Mahomes, though, because I can see three arguments in the 25-year-old's favor:

Volume. Mahomes has thrown 329 passes at a similar level of efficiency to Rodgers' 280. He also has played an extra game, so Mahomes is at an advantage there, but the Chiefs star is more than 430 passing yards ahead of the Packers standout. Mahomes is averaging about 18 passing yards per game more than his Green Bay counterpart.

Rushing ability. Mahomes has generated 9.53 expected points added on just 27 attempts, ranking seventh among quarterbacks. That's more than double Rodgers' mark of 4.63 EPA on 11 tries. Mahomes has scrambled or run for nine first downs to Rodgers' five.

Takeaways. It seems impossible that Rodgers could even consider losing a turnover battle against another quarterback, but Mahomes is special. Rodgers has turned the ball over three times in eight games, with two interceptions against the Buccaneers and a fumble against the Vikings. You might notice that these are the Packers' only losses. Despite taking a heavier workload and running the ball more frequently, Mahomes has just one interception to his name through nine weeks. The football genius is running a 25-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, with his only pick coming on fourth-and-7 down nine points against the Raiders. He also fumbled once against the Bills, only for the ball to stay with Kansas City.

For whatever perception there has been that the Chiefs aren't playing at top gear or at the highest level for stretches on offense this season, Mahomes has been untouchable. The only way teams have stopped him has been by selling out to stop the pass and handing the Chiefs easy running lanes, which led to a pair of big games for rookie back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Mahomes is on pace for 4,777 passing yards, 44 touchdowns and two picks. He's unreal, and through the first half of the season, it's Mahomes who narrowly beats Rodgers and Wilson to be my pick for league MVP.


2. Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

1. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs

Thanks!

[tyecopeland]

Thank you guys.

[htismaqe]

ESPN+ is a mess. We got it with a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ and I can never get it to recognize the Disney+ login credentials.

I have the bundle too. I've had it forget my credentials but all I have to do is enter them again. The ESPN app/website is pretty crappy.

[ChiefBlueCFC]

I have the bundle too. I've had it forget my credentials but all I have to do is enter them again. The ESPN app/website is pretty crappy.

Yeah, it's pretty shocking how bad the ESPN app is -- at least the Play Station app. When we played the Ravens on Monday Night I had to restart the app 3-4 times because the picture would be in 420p, and I couldn't see half the graphic at the bottom.

I tend to have issues with it regardless of what I am trying to watch on there.

[htismaqe]

Yeah, it's pretty shocking how bad the ESPN app is -- at least the Play Station app. When we played the Ravens on Monday Night I had to restart the app 3-4 times because the picture would be in 420p, and I couldn't see half the graphic at the bottom.

I tend to have issues with it regardless of what I am trying to watch on there.

I have the ESPN app on iOS (iPhone and iPad), Playstation 4, Roku, an LG Smart TV, and one Android device.

It is universally bad. Links broken, streaming video problems, articles that just plain don't load. Fonts that are unreadable due to color conflicts.

The funny thing is, the NFL Network app is just as bad and has many of the same problems.

[KChiefs1]

Barnwell is probably the most knowledgeable NFL columnist. He puts Peter King to shame.

[tyecopeland]

Just found another weekly article that was free last week that is now behind their pay wall. Stupid espn. Fuck em.

[DaneMcCloud]

ESPN+ is a mess. We got it with a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ and I can never get it to recognize the Disney+ login credentials.

I have the bundle too. I've had it forget my credentials but all I have to do is enter them again. The ESPN app/website is pretty crappy.

I have the Ad-Free Hulu Bundle but since we already had an established Hulu account, the login creds didn't change.

Oddly enough, I use the same User & Pass for Disney+ as I do with ESPN+ and haven't had an issue.

I think the only thing I've ever watched on ESPN+ is NFL Prime Time with Chris Berman. I didn't even realize that the account gives me access to articles on ESPN.com until I read this thread.

[Lzen]

I have the Ad-Free Hulu Bundle but since we already had an established Hulu account, the login creds didn't change.

Oddly enough, I use the same User & Pass for Disney+ as I do with ESPN+ and haven't had an issue.

I think the only thing I've ever watched on ESPN+ is NFL Prime Time with Chris Berman. I didn't even realize that the account gives me access to articles on ESPN.com until I read this thread.

You never watched KU basketball games on ESPN+?

[tyecopeland]

Also found out that they moved lebatard to espn plus. I haven't watched or listened to him in a couple years but that seems to be a strange move as well.

[Mecca]

Also found out that they moved lebatard to espn plus. I haven't watched or listened to him in a couple years but that seems to be a strange move as well.

They're moving the simulcasts of all of their radio shows to plus, because of the bundle deal tons of people have plus now so they consider it a solid move to open up tv slots.

[htismaqe]

They're moving the simulcasts of all of their radio shows to plus, because of the bundle deal tons of people have plus now so they consider it a solid move to open up tv slots.

They're moving a ton of content to plus. Disney + is doing so well that they're pushing for pull through bundles.

The Hulu/Disney/ESPN is practically a no-brainer at this point. I would never buy ESPN+ by itself but with the bundle, it makes no sense to tack it on when I already have the other two - the bundle is a wash with paying for both separately.

[tyecopeland]

I was getting disney+ free through Verizon for the first year. Hulu is on the $1.99 plan. So it made no sense for me to add espn.

Now my Disney is up. I dont know if hulu will run another black friday deal. So I will probably do the bundle, even though I will absolutely hate giving espn my money.

[DaneMcCloud]

You never watched KU basketball games on ESPN+?

Not that I can recall. They're generally on ESPN here on the West Coast but I have watched them on ESPN 2 and ESPN 3, when that existed.

I'll be sure to look for them in 2021, if there's a 2021 season.

[FD]

Takeaways. It seems impossible that Rodgers could even consider losing a turnover battle against another quarterback, but Mahomes is special. Rodgers has turned the ball over three times in eight games, with two interceptions against the Buccaneers and a fumble against the Vikings. You might notice that these are the Packers' only losses. Despite taking a heavier workload and running the ball more frequently, Mahomes has just one interception to his name through nine weeks. The football genius is running a 25-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, with his only pick coming on fourth-and-7 down nine points against the Raiders. He also fumbled once against the Bills, only for the ball to stay with Kansas City.


This is honestly the most impressive thing.