Why Packers’ Aaron Rodgers will win MVP over Buccaneers’ Tom Brady, despite some voter reservations

Cooper Kupp, Jonathan Taylor and TJ Watt all had terrific seasons, but here’s the lowdown on their 2021 NFL MVP award cases: They never stood a chance.

At this point, The Associated Press’ NFL MVP club should have a “QB Only” sign hanging above the front door. A non-quarterback player has captured the award just once in the past 14 seasons. Former Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is the only player who could snap the quarterback streak, and he had to put up one of the best rushing seasons in league history to bring home the hardware.

This year’s NFL MVP race came down to: surprise! — a pair of quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Both stars have strong MVP cases, but there’s not much suspense here. The guy in the Packers jersey is going to receive the trophy.

How do we know that Rodgers is already a lock to be the MVP? And why is there still some controversy surrounding the award? Let’s dive into the MVP discussion.

Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady Stats

In terms of yards, no one had a better passing season than Brady. The Buccaneers quarterback threw for a league-leading 5,316 yards, the third-highest single-season total in NFL history. He also had the most completions (485), attempts (719), and touchdown passes (43).

However, Rodgers has been more efficient with his passes. He was third among qualified quarterbacks in completion percentage (68.9) behind only Joe Burrow (70.4) and Kyler Murray (69.2). He also led the NFL in passing touchdown percentage (7.0) and interception percentage (0.8 percent).

Individual numbers: Consult. Team Success: Done. Importance for the franchise: Check.

It’s no wonder these are the two top contenders for MVP.

Why will Aaron Rodgers win MVP over Tom Brady?

The results of the NFL All-Pro team voting are a major spoiler ahead of the end of the MVP race.

Rodgers won 34 out of 50 possible votes for the All-Pro quarterback job, with Brady receiving the remaining 16 votes. The 50 AP voters who select the All-Pro team are also the voters for the MVP award, which means Rodgers should be No. 1 on the MVP list when it’s officially revealed.

Some MVP voters may have opted out of quarterbacking, but as mentioned above, it doesn’t look like Kupp, Taylor, Watt and others have done enough to outdo Rodgers or Brady. It also wouldn’t make much sense for multiple voters to put Rodgers above Brady on the All-Pro ballot, and then drop him below Brady on the MVP ballot.

All signs point to Rodgers being the 2021 NFL MVP.

The Hub Arkush-Aaron Rodgers MVP controversy, explained

Veteran NFL writer and AP voter Hub Arkush stated in early January that he would not cast his MVP vote for Rodgers because he is “the biggest jerk in the league.”

“I just think the way he’s behaving is inappropriate,” Arkush said on 670 The Score. “I think he’s a bad guy, and I don’t think a bad guy can be the most valuable guy at the same time.”

Rodgers hit back at Arkush, calling him an “absolute bum” and telling reporters that Arkush only has a problem with him because he’s not vaccinated.

“His problem is not that I’m a bad guy or that I’m the biggest jerk in the league because he doesn’t know me and he doesn’t know anything about me,” Rodgers said. “His problem is that I’m not vaccinated. So if he wants to go on a crusade and collude and come up with an additional card to put up the award just for this season and make him Vaccinated Most Valuable Player, then he should do that.”

Arkush later admitted he made a ‘big mistake’ and he should not have publicly discussed his voting plans. Unfortunately for Arkush, the damage had already been done and led to much speculation that other voters might penalize Rodgers for off-the-field issues.

However, now that the All-Pro voting results have been released, it appears that Arkush was only speaking for himself or, at most, a very small part of the voting body.

Where do Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady rank on the NFL’s all-time MVP list?

Rodgers could separate himself from Brady, Brett Favre, Jim Brown and Johnny Unitas with a fourth MVP trophy. Only former Colts and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning would have more NFL MVP awards than Rodgers if the voting goes as expected.