NFL - Discussion Thread

We definitely scrutinize Clowney more because he was the #1 pick too. If he was drafted at #15 or #30 we'd be saying he's had a great career I think. You just expect those #1 guys to change your franchise.

I think Patrick Willis or Luke Keuchly could've had big impacts if they just played longer. Those guys dominated. Junior Seau, Derrick Thomas, both had great careers, Thomas's cut short tragically. But I don't think we'll see any MVP level game-changing guys like Taylor anytime soon. Especially as we moved away from the run heavy mid 2000's offenses where 2 RBs won MVP into the crazy passing offenses we have now. The voters are just too impressed by the volume the QBs put up. The MVP is essentially the "best QB" award - further evidenced by the fact that there's a separate "Best Offensive player" award where a QB doesn't always win.

In fact, the MVP as a whole is kind of goofy. In 2011 and 2008, Rodgers and Manning won MVP but Drew Brees won Best Offensive player.

I think it is possible for a LB to win the MVP, but they are going to put up some freakish numbers. Probably like 150+ tackles, 15+ sacks, 5+ picks OR 150 tackles and 20+ sacks. Just crazy.

Yeah, which is very very unlikely to happen. And even then in that same season you might get a QB that throws 50+ TDs and sniffs 6,000 yards with the extra game.

« Last edited by steelersrock01 on Apr 17th 2021 »

Yeah, probably will never happen because of that.

Bill Parcells the coach of the Giants when LT was such a force allowed him to roam wherever he felt which made it almost impossible to consistantly block him. Tight ends and running backs just couldn't cope. Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs literally had game plans that were formulated around LT, that's how good he was. I haven't seen anyone anywhere near as good since, each year a couple of players enter the draft heralded as the next LT but none come even close to being as dominating in a game.

Probably because there are loads of schemes now to slow down basically any LB you game plan against (ie double with a TE, chip with RB), not to mention the size of players have changed dramatically the last couple of decades. Makes it difficult for any LB since they aren't the biggest guys in the world. Even Parsons and Davis, really any LB in general, would have difficulties consistently playing at the level LT did when being slowed by double blocks all game long, especially when one of those two blocks will be by a guy outweighing them by up to a hundred pounds.

Yeah. This might sound silly, but the average O Lineman was closer to 275 pounds whereas today they're more like 320-330 on average. That 50 pounds makes a difference, especially with some of the guys at the weight being really athletic and not just large.

Yeah, and most linebackers these days are in that 250-260, some even a little leaner than that. That's at least a fifty pound difference straight up, and like you said, lineman are far more athletic these days.