The San Francisco 49ers are among the best teams in the NFL this season. And there is certainly an argument that much of their success has come on the back of star running back Christian McCaffrey. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan certainly believes that is the case.
McCaffrey leads all running backs in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, receptions, receiving yards, and total touchdowns. He is far and away the best player at his position. But the real question is, does McCaffrey have an argument of being the best overall player in football?
Kyle Shanahan certainly believes he does, making the case for McCaffrey to be a “legitimate MVP candidate” this season.
“Yeah, I think without a doubt,” Shanahan said via Pro Football Talk on Friday when asked whether McCaffrey is worthy of the award. “I know it goes to quarterbacks the majority of the time, and there’s plenty of worthy quarterbacks, but you definitely can’t say that Christian’s behind anyone. He’s as valuable in this league as anyone.”
As Shanahan stated, the MVP award has been a defacto quarterback award as of late. In fact, the last time a non-quarterback won the award was over a decade ago in 2012, when former Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson won the award after nearly breaking the NFL single-season rushing record.
That being said, McCaffrey is in the midst of a historic season of his own that could and perhaps should warrant MVP consideration. He has 16 total touchdowns on the season, and with six games remaining he could approach the single-season touchdown record held by LaDainian Tomlinson.
One thing that could go against McCaffrey is that someone else on his own team could steal some votes away from him in the MVP conversation.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy has had a solid year of his own, and as a quarterback some voters could argue that he is the driving force of the 49ers success this year.
