As we approach Week 14 of the 2008 NFL season, discussions of the MVP award are starting to heat up. Drew Brees is on pace to break Dan Marino's single-season record for most passing yards after throwing for 3,870 yards in his first 12 games.
Kurt Warner has rejuvenated the Arizona Cardinals franchise as they are one game away from clinching the NFC West division title. He is right behind Brees with 3,741 yards passing and 21 touchdowns so far this season. Even Tony Romo has returned to his old form after missing a few weeks with a pinkie injury.
The last few weeks of the season will determine who deserves to be the league's most valuable player. We will all know who the most valuable player will be, but who will take the honor of Least Valuable Player?
For the first time ever, I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition: Dan Parzych's LVP awards for each position. Let's start out with the offense:
Quarterback: JaMarcus Russell
With the first overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders selected JaMarcus Russell out of LSU. After a hold-out for most of training camp, he signed a six-year deal worth about $68 million. Of that $68 million, $31.5 million was guaranteed. What has the two year investment been worth so far?
In 12 games started, Russell mustered just over 2,000 yards passing and nine touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
The Oakland Raiders may have taken the Carson Palmer approach with Russell his rookie season (sit and learn from the starting quarterback), but that is no excuse for the type of money Russel is making.
Russel has been nothing but a disappointment in his second season in the NFL. The Raiders sit near the bottom of the AFC West with a 3-10 record. He has 1,797 yards passing, seven touchdowns, six interceptions, and six fumbles lost. There is no excuse for a player making that much money to have these kind of statistics. Congratulations JaMarcus Russel, you are this years Least Valuable Player at quarterback.
Running Back: Joseph Addai
The 2008 season has been an odd one for the Indianapolis Colts. They are used to being on top of the AFC South. After a slow start, the Colts have won their last five games in a row. They appear to be playing for a wild card spot after the Tennessee Titans appear to have the AFC South locked up.
One of the biggest disappointments this season for the Colts has been their starting running back, Joseph Addai.
The former LSU Tiger got off to a pretty good start in his NFL career. In his rookie season, he shared carries with Dominic Rhodes and helped the Colts win the Super Bowl.
In his first two seasons in the league, Addai has ran for over 1,000 yards each year and got in the end zone a total of 23 times.
This season, Addai has been nothing but a disappointment. In 10 games, Addai has run for 514 yards and 5 touchdowns.
He may have been battling injuries throughout the season, but this is not the Addai we were expecting to see this season. Hopefully, he will improve for the remaining few games that are left this season.
Wide Receiver: Chad Ocho Cinco
No player has been a bigger disappointment this season than Chad Ocho Cinco. This certainly has been a season to forget
Before the season started, all we heard on ESPN was Chad Johnson wanted to part ways with the Cincinnati Bengals. After Marvin Lewis made it clear that Johnson would remain a Bengal, Johnson decided to change his name. Now, he would legally go by Chad Ocho Cinco.
In my opinion, he should have never changed his name considering Chad Johnson is a much better player than Chad Ocho Cinco.
Chad Johnson used to be one of the most dangerous players in the league. In each of his past three seasons, he has posted at least 1,300 yards receiving. He has also caught 24 total touchdowns.
Unfortunately, Chad Ocho Cinco can't put up the same numbers as Chad Johnson.
In ten games this season, Ocho Cinco has 428 yards receiving and four touchdowns. The Bengals are having one of the worst seasons in franchise history with a 1-10-1 record. He can blame his disappointing numbers on Carson Palmer's injury since Ryan Fitzpatrick is clearly not fit to be a starter in the league.
That's still no excuse for this "future Hall of Famer."
We're going to send you the most entertaining Oakland Raiders articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
87 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete