Can a Running Back Win MVP?

It's Saquon Barkley! Still -- nah

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You have to remember LaDainian Tomlinson — or maybe you don’t. (That’s not him in the photo. That’s Saquon Barkley. We’ll get to him presently.) Tomlinson, often known as LT to his fans, ran for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first eight seasons in the NFL, beginning in 2001. All of those campaigns were waged on behalf of the San Diego Chargers, which is one way of telling you that this is not a current story.

Anyway, Tomlinson was wonderful. He was an elusive artist with great open-field speed, but he could run right over people when he had to. By the time he retired in 2011, he had amassed more than 13,600 yards on the ground and another 4,770 as a receiver.

Loved him. But that’s not why Tomlinson matters right this minute. We’re recalling him now because he’s in such relatively rare company: Non-quarterbacks who’ve won an MVP in the last 20 years.

Tomlinson won in 2006. The year before, Seattle’s Shaun Alexander was named MVP, so for a brief moment picking a running back apparently struck people as a reasonable thing to do. But since Tomlinson, only Adrian Peterson in 2012 has managed to get the voters’ attention as the most valuable player in the NFL who wasn’t a QB.

It gets boring, sure, but that’s where we are. In the time since Tomlinson, Tom Brady has won three MVPs, Aaron Rodgers four. Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes each won a couple, etc. etc., and whatnot and what have you. It’s been a lot of the same position.

Now — back to Saquon Barkley. He’s really good. He’s a running back. He’s having a sensational, resurgent season in Philadelphia after years of turmoil in New York. And although this may be purely for entertainment purposes, he is considered a legitimate candidate for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award.

Will he win it? Good lord, of course not. But let’s give him his roses.

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Barkley has had to be this good to even force himself to the edges of the MVP conversation. It no longer occurs naturally. We’re in QB City.

For the most part, that sounds about right. If anything, the past couple of decades have only solidified how critical it is to a contending franchise that it get the quarterback question right — even if it’s only for a small window of opportunity. QBs have risen in the public and industry estimation. You can’t win without a good one, and you can’t win a lot without a great one.

All that being said — let’s enjoy Saquon Barkley for a minute. He and the screwed-up Giants couldn’t come to a contract agreement after last season, and Barkley wound up going free agent. The Eagles came calling, and that has proved to be a fairly amazing alchemy.

Earlier this season, Barkley said he was thankful for his time with the Giants, where he established himself as a terrific running back. But he added of Philadelphia, “I’m happy. My family’s happy. I’m smiling more. Everything about me is trending upward.”

You could say that. In Sunday night’s showcase blowout of the Rams, Barkley rushed for 255 yards. He looked like he was having a pretty good time. Barely a day later, on Monday Night Football, broadcaster and Hall of Fame QB Troy Aikman put the Giants on blast, saying of NY owner John Mara, “If he had a little heartburn when Saquon left and signed with the Eagles, you can only imagine the heartburn he has (now) watching him do what he's done."

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It’s already a gold mine for the Eagles. With six games left on their regular-season schedule, Barkley is sitting on 1,392 rush yards, an average of more than 126 a game. He’s a huge part of the offense for a 9-2 team, taking a little pressure off QB Jalen Hurts.

Is that enough to pull down the MVP? Let’s answer that in part by looking at the award’s history, by designated position:

Quarterback — 47 MVPs.

Running back — 13.

Fullback — 4. (I am not kidding.)

Kicker — 1. (Mark Moseley, Redskins, 1982)

Defensive tackle — 1. (Alan Page, Vikings, 1971)

Linebacker — 1. (Lawrence Taylor, Giants, 1986)

Plus a halfback, Paul Hornung of the Packers in 1961.

P.S. Alan Page was a boss.

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Quarterbacks are crushing it in the recent running, too, having won 16 of the last 17 awards. The top MVP candidates this season are Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jared Goff, Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Hurts, Joe Barrow, Baker Mayfield — you get the drift.

Saquon Barkley fits in there somewhere, currently closer to the top of that list than the bottom. We’re at the two-thirds mark of the schedule, roughly. That leaves plenty of time for folks to latch on to whichever QB happens to ride his team to the top of the standings (Goff, Allen, Hurts, Mahomes) or do something stunning down the stretch (my money’s on Lamar Jackson, who was MVP last year).

I assume that’s precisely what voters will do, meaning that Saquon Barkley may not ultimately ascend to LaDainian Tomlinson territory. It’s a pity — Barkley is having one of those seasons. We should probably notice it more than we do, but what can I tell you? He plays the wrong position.

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