Chiefs coach Andy Reid may be biased, but if he had a vote for the NFL Most Valuable Player award, he’d vote for Jamaal Charles.
Charles, the Kansas City running back who scored five touchdowns in Sunday’s win over the Raiders, has moved into MVP contention, and Reid said after Sunday’s game that he believes Charles deserves the award.
“He’s got my vote,” Reid said. “All the folks that were here today, he’s probably got their vote. I don’t know how many anybody can be more valuable to a team and to the success that we have had than he’s had. I’m pulling for him.”
Charles has 246 carries for 1,181 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, plus 65 catches for 655 yards and seven touchdowns. He has a chance to become the first player in NFL history with 10 rushing touchdowns and 10 receiving touchdowns in the same season, and he also has a chance at just the fifth season ever with 1,350 rushing yards and 750 receiving yards (Marshall Faulk did that three times, and Steven Jackson did it once).
At the moment Peyton Manning appears to be the favorite for the MVP award, and if he breaks the NFL record for passing yards in a season and passing touchdowns in a season while leading the Broncos to the best record in the AFC, he’ll likely lock up the fifth MVP of his career. But last year Manning looked like the MVP favorite for much of the season, only to lose out to a running back who got hot late in the year. A year after Adrian Peterson won the MVP on the strength of a phenomenal finish to the season, Charles may do it, too.