The 49ers might be the only team in the NFL with two viable MVP candidates as we enter the home stretch of its season. But their coach isn’t picking favorites.
Kyle Shanahan pleaded the fifth when asked about Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey’s cases for the league’s top individual award.
“I mean, are you trying to get me in trouble with those two guys?” Shanahan said. “That’s the only reason I wouldn’t overly comment on either one of them because I don’t want them to cancel each other out.”
Can 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey, Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill, or Eagles’ Jalen Hurts win NFL MVP?
After initially taking a non-commital stance, though, Shanahan began making cases for both McCaffrey and Purdy depending on the voters’ criteria for the award.
“If any non-quarterback’s going to get a MVP, I don’t get how Christian McCaffrey can’t [win it],” Shanahan said. “I mean, he’s amazing in what he has done all year. If it’s going to a quarterback, then I don’t have to talk about Christian. I can talk about our quarterback. If his numbers is all you see, then I think that solves it up. But, if you watch the film then it makes it even stronger, which to me is the most important thing.”
As Shanahan alluded to, the award has traditionally been won by quarterbacks, at least in recent years. QBs have won the award in every season since 2012, when Adrian Peterson won it after rushing for over 2,097 yards.
That’s likely the reason why Purdy is a much bigger favorite to win the award than McCaffrey. The 49ers quarterback is listed as the co-betting favorite to win, holding the same odds as Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (+150). McCaffrey’s odds are much slimmer at +5000, though he holds the ninth-best odds to win the award and is just one of two non-quarterbacks (Tyreek Hill) to be among the 10 betting favorites to win MVP.
But McCaffrey might be having the best season for a running back since Peterson won the award in 2012. He’s rushed for a league-best 1,177 yards, which…
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Publish date : 2023-12-14 17:47:16
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