The NFL MVP award is in a very strange place. It's no secret that the MVP has become a narrative-driven award, but the MVP is only a narrative driven award because people don't actually have a grasp on what it is they are actually voting for, and that's because value is not defined in any sort of voter guidebook or instructional manual. Even our dear friends at Wikipedia can't provide a proper explanation of what voters are actually voting on: “The National Football League Most Valuable Player Award is an award given by various entities to the American football player who is considered the most valuable in the NFL during the regular season.” Okay, great! Appreciate the clarification, guys!

Here's what I know for sure… this award, for the foreseeable future, will go to a quarterback, because quarterback is simultaneously the most difficult and most important position to play in football, and because that's a nearly indisputable fact, there is a natural inclination to believe that a top-tier quarterback is more valuable than any other player in the NFL. And again, it's tough to dispute that. But if this award will go, in perpetuity, to a quarterback, then what is the point of the award, when the league's top quarterback can simply be determined by who is named 1st Team NFL All-Pro?

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is widely considered to be the front-runner for MVP this season. He's got the best odds no matter what sports book you feel like referencing, and again, for the last few weeks, we've already been told, “this is Lamar's year to win it.” However, a recent report suggests that even if Lamar is named NFL MVP, he may not be the quarterback who is named a 1st Team All-Pro.

“Some voters, we’re told, are considering whether it’s appropriate for 2023 to vote for Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson as MVP, but not as the All-Pro quarterback,” according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “Technically, it’s permissible. ‘Value' (which isn’t defined) and, say, an assessment of All-Pro based on statistical achievement (there’s no specific guidance on All-Pro, either) could justify regarding Lamar as the MVP but someone else as the All-Pro quarterback.”

Now some of this is likely rooted in the “Lamar needs to be more Quarterbacky” discourse that's out there. For the record, I don't think Lamar Jackson needs to change the way he plays, but I do think that we're potentially a little hasty in anointing Lamar the runaway MVP this year. In 2019, sure, the award rightfully belonged to Lamar Jackson. There wasn't a better player in the 2019 regular season than Lamar Jackson, both from a statistical and an eye-test standpoint, regardless of position. This year, both the eye test and the stats say otherwise. Not only do quarterbacks like Brock Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa and Dak Prescott deserve to be in the conversation, but their top weapons do too. Christian McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill, and CeeDee Lamb should be getting more MVP buzz than they are, and I don't care that none of them play the league's “Most Valuable” position.