The Falcons sit just one game under .500 and one game out of a Wild Card spot in Arthur Smith’s first season as head coach. Even though it has been an up and down season, the only thing that matters is results. In the first year of the new regime, Atlanta has already eclipsed last year’s win total with six games left to play. A large part of that improvement is the signing of Cordarrelle Patterson, who Terry Fontenot brought in on a one-year deal worth $3 million. The Falcons’ vision for what the longtime return specialist could be if given a full-time role couldn’t have worked out better.
Patterson is setting career-highs in nearly every statistical category and is the main driving force for the Falcons offense. He leads Atlanta in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, second in rush attempts, second in receiving yards and receptions, and first in receiving touchdowns. Patterson has 134 touches for 911 scrimmage yards and nine total touchdowns, leading the team in each. He’s obviously the team’s MVP so far this season, but should he garner league-MVP consideration? Most betting sites have the MVP odds set in the order below.
- Tom Brady +350
- Josh Allen +450
- Aaron Rodgers +600
- Kyler Murray +1000
- Patrick Mahomes +1200
- Dak Prescott +1200
- Matthew Stafford +1600
- Lamar Jackson +1600
- Justin Herbert +1800
- Jonathan Taylor +1800
- Cooper Kupp +3500
- Derek Carr +4000
- Joe Burrow +4000
As you can see, Patterson isn’t even given odds on most sites that I could find. Obviously, the MVP award has largely become the best quarterback award, but we can compare how Patterson stacks up against other non-quarterback MVP candidates — Jonathan Taylor and Cooper Kupp.
Taylor and Kupp lead the league in scrimmage yards — 1,541 for the former and 1,232 for the latter. When you compare those figures to Patterson’s 911 scrimmage yards, it isn’t even close. If you look at total touchdowns, Taylor has 16 scores, and Kupp has ten scores compared to Patterson’s nine total touchdowns. Kupp’s 13.2 yards per touch is incredibly impressive, even more so when you compare it to Patterson’s 6.8 yards per touch and Taylor’s 6.3 yards per touch.
In short, there aren’t many statistical categories that help Patterson’s case for MVP. The volume of touches just isn’t there. Taylor’s 245 total touches rank second among all players and nearly doubles Patterson’s 134 total touches. In short, he likely won’t garner any MVP consideration outside a serious uptick in touches, yards, and touchdowns.
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