OPINION
There’s only one NFL MVP through Week 5 — a rookie QB who was overshadowed by Caleb Williams but could join Jim Brown in football history
Rookies normally are not allowed to win NFL MVP.
The league's most prestigious honor consistently goes to the best quarterback in contemporary times.
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Since 2017, it's been Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Jackson, Mahomes and Tom Brady on top of the individual football world.
Jim Brown was the last rookie to be named football's top player, and that was way back in 1957, when TVs were still getting out of the black-and-white era and the Cleveland Browns were one of the best teams in the sport.
A long, long time ago.
It's still early for Jayden Daniels.
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Every game is his latest round of proof.
Every victory makes Daniels as the Commanders' new franchise QB more and more real in Washington.
But after five games -- almost one-third of the 2024 season -- it's not close.
Daniels is the league's MVP through Week 5, and the recent Heisman Trophy winner has been the perfect antidote to years of dysfunction in Washington.
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Of course, Daniels can't fix bad politics or completely remove Daniel Snyder's name.
But his 77.1 completion percentage has been able to produce four consecutive victories, turning the Commanders into the NFL's early season surprise.
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Right now, Daniels is better than Dak Prescott.
At this moment in time, the former Arizona State transfer is third in the pros in QB rating, fifth in passer rating, and more efficient than Mahomes and Jackson.
A revived Kliff Kingsbury deserves serious credit for getting the best out of Daniels through early October.
Brian T. Smith reveals the secret weapon who developed Patrick Mahomes and Caleb Williams and is now fuelling Jayden Daniels and Washington Commanders in the shape of Kliff Kingsbury
Dan Quinn left the Dallas Cowboys' constant drama behind and now has the Commanders third in the league in point differential (plus-40).
But the obvious game- and franchise-changer is Daniels, who is making the pre-draft process highly questionable once again.
"Jayden Daniels looks very comfortable and, to me, he had the best season in college football last year," Kurt Warner exclusively told talkSPORT.
Last year, it became clear midway through the 2023 campaign that C.J. Stroud, not Bryce Young, should have gone No. 1 overall.
Caleb Williams just played his best pro game -- easily beating Young's Carolina Panthers -- and will arrive in London in Week 6 for an international showcase.
But Williams isn't an MVP contender in 2024, and the Bears are the worst team in a fierce NFC North.
Daniels could lead Washington to the playoffs in a division filled with supposed Super Bowl contenders (Cowboys, Eagles).
Daniels is re-designing efficiency at the hardest position in sports.
Mahomes or Jackson could be topping the vote again after 17 games.
But it's Daniels' MVP to lose through Week 5.
Sunday is another big, early test for the Commanders rookie: Derrick Henry, Action Jackson and the Ravens in Baltimore.
The fact that a rookie QB, drafted after a No. 1 pick QB, is now in the same historical conversation with Brown says it all.
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When you turn around the absolute mess that was Washington in five games, you're definitely playing like an NFL MVP.
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