Making the Case for Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers & Top MVP Candidates

While it seems to be a foregone conclusion who will win the NFL's Most Valuable Player award for the 2011 season, there is still a case to be made for a handful of the league's top players.

In the following slides, I detail four players who deserve to be in the conversation when it comes to determining who will be named league MVP this year.

QB Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is likely to win the NFL's Most Valuable Player award this year, though he's not the only player who has performed well enough to deserve consideration.

He has the fourth-highest yardage total on the year (which would likely be higher had he not been deactivated in Week 17) at 4,643 yards, the second-most touchdown passes (45) and just six interceptions. He's also carried the ball 60 times for 257 yards and three more scores.

He's the single-greatest reason why the Packers are 15-1 and remain heavy favorites to go to and win the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year.

In a season chock full of impressive quarterback performances, Rodgers' name rises to the top. But he's not the only player who has made a convincing case to become the NFL's most valuable.

QB Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees ended the regular season in sole possession of the single-season passing yardage record, throwing for 5,476 yards in total.

He's completed 71.2 percent of his passes, has 46 touchdowns to 14 interceptions and has carried the ball for a touchdown once, as well.

He's at the helm of the NFL's most productive and highest-scoring offense and has helped his team become the only squad seemingly strong enough to stop the Green Bay Packers, as far as the playoffs are concerned.

If this were any other year, Brees would win the NFL's Most Valuable Player award with little debate. However, because his team is 13-3, compared to the Packers at 15-1, and because he's thrown more interceptions, Brees is likely to lose out to Aaron Rodgers this year.

QB Tom Brady, New England Patriots

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been one of the most dominant passers in the NFL over the past decade and he's consistently under consideration for the NFL's Most Valuable Player award, as he puts up thousands of yards and dozens of touchdowns season after season.

This year, Brady has managed to throw for the most yards of his illustrious career, completing 65.6 percent of his passes for 5,235 yards, 39 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and adding three rushing touchdowns to his scoring total as well.

In terms of yardage, only the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees has outperformed him, but he does have fewer touchdowns than either Brees, Aaron Rodgers or the Detroit Lions' Matthew Stafford.

But, overall, it will be the Patriots' 13-3 record that pushed Brady to the fringe of the MVP discussion this year, despite him having an excellent and impressive season.

RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville Jaguars

There is no player more valuable to his team than running back Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars. The league's rushing yardage leader has scored eight of the team's nine rushing touchdowns and a full third of their 12 passing touchdowns this year.

On a team that finished 31st in passing yards, it was Jones-Drew alone that helped the team along to its five wins this year and kept it in the top half of the league in average rushing yards per game.

Of the Jaguars' 1,970 total rushing yards this season, Jones-Drew was responsible for 1,606 of them, rushing 343 times. He also caught 43 passes for 374 yards and three scores, had 12 games with 100 or more all-purpose yards and had just one game with fewer than 80 rushing yards all season.

Furthermore, it's Jones-Drew's third consecutive season with more than 1,300 yards on the ground and, in fact, it's the best season of his career. In a league where running backs wear down with age, Jones-Drew only gets better.

He's broken the mold of what a running back can be in the NFL and he deserves recognition for it beyond just the rushing title. However, with so many quarterbacks attracting attention, Jones-Drew won't likely receive serious consideration for league MVP this year, though he may garner himself a few votes.