At 8:46 p.m. Tuesday, NFL Network stunned the world by posting a graphic on social media showing Kirk Cousins as Michael Irvin’s MVP pick for the 2022 season.
The rest of the NFL GameDay crew took the usual suspects: Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, who led the Bengals to the Super Bowl last season. But Irvin, he flipped the script and now everyone needs an explanation.
2022 MVP Picks are in‼️ pic.twitter.com/bexpT2gKPI
— NFL GameDay (@NFLGameDay) September 7, 2022
From a betting standpoint, it’s not completely ludicrous to pick Cousins. He’s +5000 to win MVP, which ranks tied 17th in the NFL behind 15 other quarterbacks and Derrick Henry.
Among the quarterbacks with better odds is Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 pick in last year’s NFL Draft who finished his rookie season with a horrible Jaguars team with a 71.9 passer rating. That ranked 31st of 32 starting QBs.
Cousins’ 103.1 passer rating was tied with Russell Wilson for fourth.
Throw in the facts that the Vikings are expected to throw the ball more under first-year head coach Kevin O’Connell, the offensive line is expected to be better and Cousins is throwing the ball to the likes of Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, KJ Osborn, Irv Smith Jr. and Dalvin Cook, and Cousins appears to be on track to put up big numbers in 2022.
Big numbers plus wins puts quarterbacks in the MVP conversation. Simple as that.
Regardless, Irvin is trending on Twitter and most of the reaction is from people making mean-spirited tweets about drug use and brain damage from years of playing football. It’s just the latest example why Twitter is digital hell for anyone in line for judgement, which in this case is Irvin standing at Twitter’s gates.
