J.J. Watt would like to see some defensive players get some love from MVP voters.
Responding to Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times making the case for Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald being named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, Watt wrote on Twitter that he thinks the voters are always going to select someone who plays offense.
“See 2014,” Watt wrote. “It’s always been an offensive award. (or 2012).”
In 2014, Watt got 13 out of 50 MVP votes, finishing a distant second to Aaron Rodgers in MVP voting. That’s the closest any defensive player has come to winning the Associated Press league MVP award since 1986, when Lawrence Taylor won it.
The fact that Taylor won MVP shows that it hasn’t “always” been an offensive award, as Watt said. Vikings defensive tackle Alan Page also won the award in 1971, and Washington kicker Mark Moseley won it in 1982. But those are the only defensive or special teams players to win the award in its 61-year history.
In today’s NFL, it’s hard to picture anyone other than a quarterback winning MVP. Even great ones like Watt and Donald.