Barring some kind of zero-TD, 10-interception catastrophe in his final two games, Lamar Jackson’s going to win the NFL MVP this season. You know this. I know this. What this article presupposes is, what if Jackson doesn’t win? Is there a case to be made for Russell Wilson, who’s in the midst of the greatest season of his underrated career?
Were it not for Jackson — had he been playing receiver, as we all know some suggested he should — Wilson would’ve already locked down MVP honors. He’s not going to win — Jackson’s just too magnetic, too transformative, too new for Wilson to overcome — but Russell Wilson has, in one season, rewritten his own legacy, completed Seattle’s total transformation from defensive deathtrap to offensive battleship, and established himself as one of the elite quarterbacks for the decade to come.