The Seahawks know as well as anyone how special Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey is. Last year when these two teams played, he totaled 237 yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns. McCaffrey has gotten even better this season and early on he was in the MVP conversation. According to Tiffany Blackmon at NFL Network, Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright says he’d still be there if Carolina had a better record.
Wright knows what he’s talking about. While no running back has won the award since Adrian Peterson in 2012, McCaffrey’s production this year made him a strong candidate to break that streak. Heading into Week 15, McCaffrey has totaled 1,946 yards and scored 16 touchdowns from scrimmage.
Unfortunately, team success is still the ultimate consideration when it comes to deciding MVP and the Panthers simply haven’t won enough games.
Even if Carolina was undefeated, McCaffrey would be hard-pressed to beat out Lamar Jackson for the award, though. Russell Wilson deserves a few votes (which would be the first of his career) but Jackson is an easy favorite to earn the honor.
If Jackson comes back down to earth in 2020 and the Panthers manage to get hot, McCaffrey could be in the conversation again.
