When the MVP votes were released, the winner wasn’t much of a surprise – Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers. Second place wasn’t much of a surprise either – Houston Texans all-world DE J.J. Watt received the most votes for a defensive player since Lawrence Taylor won the award in 1986.
What was a surprise was the last name read to receive a vote – Seattle Seahawks LB Bobby Wagner.
MVP voting:
Rodgers: 31
Watt: 13
Romo: 2
Murray: 2
Brady: 1
Wagner: 1— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) February 1, 2015
Wait a minute… Bobby Wagner? Sure, Wagner made the Pro Bowl and All Pro teams this year. But MVP? With the likes of Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor he may not even be the best player on his own defense. For that matter, Wagner only played in 11 games this year, so he’s nowhere near the top of the stats charts in any category. He had just 2 sacks, 0 fumbles, and 0 interceptions. Those numbers don’t exactly scream “M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P.”
As reported by Michael David Smith though, this was no error, someone actually did view Wagner as the most valuable player in the league. That person was former Super Bowl winning head coach and current NBC analyst Tony Dungy.
Tony Dungy cast the lone MVP vote for Bobby Wagner.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) February 1, 2015
Dungy confirmed the vote on his own Twitter page:
For people questioning my MVP vote for Bobby Wagner–it's called most VALUABLE. He & Gronk were biggest difference makers on two best teams.
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) February 1, 2015
I like and respect Tony Dungy, but I have to disagree with him on this one. It’s extremely hard to justify an MVP vote for Bobby Wagner. The Seahawks did go 9-2 with him and 3-2 without him, but that may be the only straw to be grasped with this vote. And no matter the impact, the fact that he missed over a quarter of the season should have played a factor as well.
Perhaps Dungy knew there was no way he would win the award and wanted to give it to Wagner as a reward for an excellent season, which nobody is questioning. If that’s the case though, it’s reminiscent of the hometown baseball writer throwing a vote to “his guy” just to give them a nod and sacrificing the objective duty to vote for the best and most deserving. The NFL asks for you to vote for just one person for MVP and I’m not sure Wagner would even be in anyone else’s Top 10.
If nothing else, at least it’ll give us five minutes of debate to kill time through the six hours of Super Bowl pregame today.
