NFL MVP stock watch: Aaron Rodgers deserves 3rd MVP
By Dustin Baker
3. Josh Allen, QB (Buffalo Bills)
Last Week’s Ranking: 3rd
Highest Ranking of Season: 2nd (-1)
2020 Stats: 4,544 Passing Yards, 37 Passing TDs, 10 INTs, 69.2% Comp, 107.2 Passer Rating, 8 Rushing TDs
What a year.
Josh Allen is here — and he will be staying. In his third year, Allen has risen to the ranks of an elite quarterback. In that tier arguably lives Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, [on most days] Deshaun Watson, and now Josh Allen.
What happened? Two things. Foremost, Allen’s development accelerated like the speed of sound. What some national punditry forecasted was in the works for Mitchell Trubisky heading into 2019 — happened instead with Allen. Aside from some late 2020 heroics, Trubisky’s lofty prognosis flopped.
Next, the addition of Stefon Diggs was like catnip to a feline. Allen targeted Diggs profusely, and the Bills profited. As an unmistakable WR1, Diggs was deadly. He led the NFL in receptions and receiving yards. Cole Beasley looked like a Pro Bowler alongside Diggs. And just like that, the Bills nabbed the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 13-3 record.
Round-robin postseason tournaments involving Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson, and Allen are on the horizon. Quarterback supremacy has returned to the AFC much like the days of Elway-Kelly-Marino or Brady-Manning-Roethlisberger.