NFL MVP tracker: Early leaders in our poll would be first-time winners
From Week 1 through Week 17, USA TODAY Sports' NFL staff will be handicapping the race for league MVP.
Admittedly, voting after just one game may seem premature, but part of the fun is choosing from a wide-open field that will almost surely narrow as the season progresses. A first-place vote is worth five points, a second-place vote is worth three, and a third-place vote is worth one.
Our MVP tracker through Week 1's games:
USA TODAY Sports' Week 2 NFL picks
1. WR Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers (11 points): Extrapolate his numbers from the 12 games he played with QB Ben Roethlisberger in 2015, and Brown would have been on pace to accrue 2,132 receiving yards and 159 receptions, which would greatly exceed the respective single-season records of 1,964 and 143. An eight-catch, 126-yard, two-TD effort on Monday night seems almost pedestrian by AB's standards, but — when factoring in his ability as a returner — it's not hard to argue he's the best four-down player in the NFL today.
2. QB Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9 points): The second-year player showed signs of making a nice leap in his sophomore season after torching the Atlanta Falcons for 281 yards and four TDs in the Georgia Dome as the Bucs won their first opener since 2012. Winston showed nice command of the offense, completing passes to eight teammates and connecting with four different ones on his scoring strikes.
3. QB Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints (8 points): The main thing holding back the two-time offensive player of the year from his first MVP award is the Saints defense. Brees has led the NFL in passing yards four of the past five seasons and threw for a league-high 423 in Week 1. His 131.3 passer rating makes him the early leader in that category, while his four TD passes matched Winston and Andrew Luck. Of course, as long as New Orleans continues to waste such efforts, Brees will be hard pressed to bring home the hardware.
San Francisco 49ers fan who ran on field said his friends dared him to do it
T4. QB Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers (5 points): He looked more like his vintage self in the opener, rifling pinpoint passes into the end zone and displaying his usual mobility while orchestrating a narrow win on the road. Rodgers threw for two TDs and ran for one against the Jacksonville Jaguars, though his passing numbers (20-for-34, 199 yards) were modest by his standards.
T4. QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers (5 points): If he missed being without suspended RB Le'Veon Bell (temporarily) and WR Martavis Bryant or retired TE Heath Miller, you wouldn't have known it. Though Brown obviously remains Big Ben's favorite target, he didn't hesitate to spread his throws to young WRs Eli Rogers and Sammie Coates or TE Jesse James. Brown may be the star of this attack, but it still runs through Roethlisberger.
Others receiving votes: Derek Carr (3 points), A.J. Green (3), Matthew Stafford (1)
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Follow Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis
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