It has been a roller-coaster season for the San Francisco 49ers, with injuries to crucial impact players on both sides of the ball to winning ten straight games heading into the postseason as the second seed in the NFC playoffs. Still, there has been one constant: 49ers Nick Bosa being dominant on the field. Bosa deserves to win the NFL defensive player of the year award, but he also needs to be considered for the NFL Most Valuable Player award.
49ers Nick Bosa is the NFL DPOY
Many great players in the NFL deserve to be considered for the defensive player of the year award this year, Micah Parsons and TJ Watt, to name a few, but 49ers Nick Bosa stands above the rest for the defensive player of the year award. The fourth-year defensive end out of Ohio State University is having a career year on the field.
Bosa finished the season leading the NFL in sacks at 18.5 sacks, and has proven why he is the best player on the best defense in the NFL. Bosa was one and a half sacks away from passing former 49ers edge rushed Aldon Smith for most sacks in a single season for the San Francisco 49ers but the 49ers pulled their starters in the third quarter in their dominating 38-13 win against the Arizona Cardinals.
49ers Nick Bosa is proving week after week why he is worthy of being the second overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. So when superstar offensive players like George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and Trent Williams say Bosa is one of the best players they have ever played with or against, people should listen intently. 49ers Nick Bosa gives San Francisco’s defense an element that most defenses don’t have, a relentless pass rush. Bosa should be the defensive player of the year this season, but should Bosa be considered for the NFL MVP?
Is 49ers Nick Bosa an MVP Candidate?
In the long and rich history of the NFL, there have only been two defensive players ever to win the NFL MVP, Alan Page for the Minnesota Vikings in 1971 and Lawrence Taylor for the New York Giants in 1986. In a league dominated by offense and star quarterbacks, people should be hesitant to scoff at the notion that a defensive player should be considered for the NFL MVP award.
49ers Nick Bosa is gaining traction in the NFL MVP conversation. According to Peter King of Pro Football Talk and Football Morning in America, Bosa is now in the top five for the NFL MVP. It’s interesting that four out of the top five NFL MVP candidates are all starting quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, and Joe Burrow, and the fifth is a defensive end who is a game wrecker in Bosa.
The evolution of the NFL favors the offensive and the quarterback. Fans want to see and pay for scoring. Still, it’s astonishing that in an era of Air raid offenses and scoring points in bunches, a defensive end has the same impact or more on their team than many quarterbacks and offensive skill positions around the league.
One of the four quarterbacks stated above, Mahomes, Allen, Hurts, or Burrow, will probably win the NFL regular season MVP, with Mahomes leading the way, but 49ers Nick Bosa needs to be considered for the NFL MVP award.
Looking back at the two players who won the NFL MVP as defensive players, Page & Taylor, 49ers Nick Bosa has had a similar impact for San Francisco that Page had for the Vikings and Taylor had for the Giants. 49ers Nick Bosa is the best player on the best defense in football. Although the 49ers’ defense is not historically dominant, from subpar performances against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in the season, Bosa is performing at a historically efficient level.
49ers Nick Bosa added another sack to his league-leading sack total, 18.5 sacks, against the Arizona Cardinals, who are on the brink of firing their head coach Kliff Kingsbury after Sunday’s loss to the 49ers. Bosa did not need to play the entire game because of resting for the playoffs. Still, he extended his league-leading sack total, solidifying himself as the defensive player of the year and adding to his case for the NFL MVP.
Although a defensive player may never win the NFL’s highest individual honor again, 49ers’ Nick Bosa needs to be considered for the NFL MVP award based on his overall impact on his team, his historically great regular season stats, and his influence on the field tormenting opposing offenses and quarterbacks around the NFL.
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