After watching the third and final Christmas football game Monday night, many fans are in agreement on two things. The Baltimore Ravens look like the best team in the NFL right now, and Lamar Jackson is currently the top choice for MVP. Retired All-Pro cornerback and outspoken analyst Richard Sherman is pushing back against the second school of thought.
“I love Lamar Jackson as much as anybody, I’ve supported him the whole time,” he said on Fox Sports 1’s “Undisputed” before the inevitable “but” moment. “If he had his numbers that he had the MVP year (2019), which was 43 touchdowns to six interceptions, then we would be shouting from the rooftops he’s the MVP of the league.”
Sherman raises an interesting argument that directly addresses the notion that some people look for reasons to discredit Jackson’s MVP case. He is admittedly not the dominant dual threat he was in his second NFL season. But the Super Bowl 48 champion made another statement that is sure to irk Ravens fans, one that caused co-worker and Jackson MVP supporter Keyshawn Johnson to briefly walk off set.
“No QB is more important to their team than Josh Allen is to the Buffalo Bills,” Sherman opined. He cited the fact that the two-time Pro Bowl selection accounts for 83 percent of the Bills’ touchdowns as the basis of his claim. Jackson’s percentage sits at only 55 percent.
Is the eye test enough to propel Ravens’ Lamar Jackson to MVP?
To be clear, Richard Sherman is not advocating for Allen to be voted MVP. He believes San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey or Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill deserve the award due to the tremendous impact they are each having on postseason teams. Although the Ravens now possess the NFL’s best record at 12-3, following a 33-19 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, there are other strong factors that can be attributed to their collective success.
For one, Baltimore allows the fewest points per game in the league (16.3) and forced five turnovers in the big Christmas road win. Lamar Jackson has 3,357 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions and an additional 786 yards and five scores on the ground this season. Those numbers are undeniably impressive, but do they deserve to trump the sterling efforts of McCaffrey and Hill?
Jackson backers will ardently declare that the stats do not tell the whole story of his MVP campaign. And to a degree, they are correct. He consistently displays unparalleled elusiveness on a weekly basis that allows his team to extend drives and manufacture points, as was obvious on Monday.
But suggesting there are other players who are more deserving of the award should not be considered an outrageous take. All that matters is how the voters see the debate, though.