Is RG3 a MVP Candidate?
Being a little over half of the way through his rookie season, Robert Griffin III has been unreal this year. So unreal in fact that he is getting serious consideration for the MVP award. RG3 has already won NFC player of the week honors twice this season (the first rookie to win it twice since the award started being handed out in 1984) as well as rookie of the week 5 times. Griffin’s numbers on the year are jaw dropping, and his level of leadership is truly something special to witness.
During the bye week Grffin was appointed captain after having his team mates vote for who they believed deserved it. He has reacted by having two back to back games with 4 touchdowns passing and quarterback ratings of over 140 with only one turnover. When you figure in Griffin’s stats it’s hard to imagine that he would not at least receive some sort of MVP thought. On the season he is 206-305 for (67.5%) for 2504 yards and 16 touchdowns with only four interceptions. Griffin has a quarterback rating of 104.6 and is leading the league in yards per completion with a 8.21 yards per play average and has rushed the ball 99 times for 642 yards (6.5 yards per carry) and six touchdowns.
There are two things that could happen that would almost ensure RG3 of a top three MVP finish and in fact could make him the third rookie in NFL history to win MVP in their rookie season. Cleveland Browns running back, Jim Brown won the MVP award in 1957 as a rookie and Houston Oilers running back Earl Campbell also pulled off the feat in 1978. The first thing would be for the Redskins to make the playoffs, which is a possibility as of now but needs to become a reality for Griffin to be a serious candidate. The other thing that could catch everyone’s eyes would be if RG3 becomes the first member of the 3000/1000 club, meaning 3000 yards passing and 1000 yards rushing. Those numbers are well within Griffin’s grasp and could be had well before the season is over.
This topic was a hot discussion this week on ESPN’s First Take as Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith both talked over the thought of RG3 winning the MVP award. Catch the video below.
