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What does it mean to be the most valuable player in a sports league? Is this the best player? The player who is most important to the league? The player who is most important to his team?
No one really knows. In most cases, MVP eventually becomes an analysis of the Potter Stewart style, and you know it simply when you see it.
This year we know this when we see Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers being the MVP.
Rodgers was responding to an actual / supposed draft design discipline when the Packers picked a fourth round with their first round to move up and take quarterback Jordan Love. Rodgers was not happy; his unofficial surrogate, Brett Favre (ironically), revealed Rodgers’ dismay. Rodgers himself later admitted that the news prompted him to sip some tequila fingers.
But instead of becoming a problem, instead of simmering, instead of brooding, he buckled up and kicked the hole.
For the season, Rodgers throws 48 berths at five interceptions. Rodgers got more passes than the Packers had points. He completed more than 70 percent of his passes, achieving a pass rate of 121.5. The Packers finished No. 1 in the NFC, two wins at Lambeau Field away from their first Super Bowl location in a decade.
Rodgers was as good as ever in the year he turned 37 – if not better.
Others in the conversation were Bills full-back Josh Allen, Chiefs full-back Patrick Mahomes and Titans full-back Derrick Henry. This year, however, was the year of Rodgers. With love on the grid looming over Rodgers’ shoulder, so can next year.