Matt Chatham: NFL MVP Discussion Meaningless When Comparing Unlike Things

The NFL MVP talk is heating up, but does it really matter who wins this award?

According to Matt Chatham’s latest post for Football by Football, the trophy has lost its meaning because there is no such thing as a most valuable player on any single team. Of course quarterbacks are widely regarded as such, but Chatham argues that it’s foolish to pit offensive players against defensive players for this title, unless it’s changed to the “Most Outstanding” moniker so that the comparisons “are between like things.”

If they changed the name of the award, Chatham says, there’s no denying that J.J. Watt would be named the winner. The Houston Texans star put an exclamation point on his monstrous season Sunday, adding six tackles, three sacks and four tackles for loss as he became the first player in NFL history to record two 20-sack seasons. There’s no denying Watt’s incredible 2014 season, but even still, the award will go to a quarterback, Chatham writes.

“In a team game as diverse and layered as football, being the ‘most valuable’ is like being the hairiest hair,” Chatham writes. “It’s unprovable. And kinda nonsensical in a game where every player is so dependent upon the next doing dramatically different jobs. If the game itself dictates that one position is more valuable, than a contest amongst all the dissimilar players isn’t a contest at all. It’s just a bad question. A silly pursuit. A parlor trick. A reminder that football experience can’t help you choose a winner from a list of rote stats, but it can help you to not ask a senseless, predestined question.”