Christian McCaffrey’s MVP claim was also endorsed by San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, who said: “The things that him and Tyreek (Hill) are doing constantly, I don’t know how you don’t have them both in the MVP conversation.”
Last Updated: 18/12/23 11:26am
San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks Brock Purdy may be among the frontrunners to win NFL MVP this season, but he insists teammate Christian McCaffrey should win the award after yet another standout performance.
McCaffrey rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown while making five catches for 72 yards and two scores as the 49ers clinched the NFC West division title with a 45-29 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The 49ers running back leads the NFL with 1,292 rushing yards while his 509 receiving yards lead all players in his position. He is also tied with Raheem Mostert for a league-high 20 touchdowns from scrimmage on the year.
“Dude, I think Christian should be MVP,” Purdy told reporters. “I really do believe that. He does everything for us, runs the ball well, can catch the ball. He does everything. And so in my eyes, that’s an MVP.”
Purdy himself starred once more as he shrugged off an early injury scare to throw for four touchdowns as he bolstered his MVP case, including a beautiful back-shoulder strike to Deebo Samuel for a fourth quarter score.
“I don’t have to differentiate, thank goodness, but (I’ve) been around a couple of MVPs probably in my career, and these two are,” said 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. “That’s the most obvious thing to me. Obviously, I might be biased being on their team, but I don’t think so. Like I said last week, all you got to do is look at numbers or you’ve got to look at the film.
“And whichever one you say is more important to you, I think it’s extremely obvious. And if they’re both important to you, that should make it even that much stronger. But those guys are playing pretty good.”
Purdy leads the NFL in quarterback through 14 games, having thrown a league-high 29 touchdown passes to just seven interceptions to help the 49ers occupy the No 1 seed in the NFC.
McCaffrey has meanwhile strung together 11 games of at least 100 scrimmage yards and earlier this season took his stretch of successive touchdown games to 17 in a row as he vies to become the first non-quarterback to win MVP since Adrian Peterson in 2012.
“Been actually wanting to stand on a soapbox about this for a while,” said tight end George Kittle after Sunday’s game. “Quarterbacks are definitely the most important piece of the team. Everybody’s talking about Purdy, everyone’s talking about Dak (Prescott) and that MVP race, and Brock’s doing a great job, and he deserves all the love that he’s getting.
“But you’ve got a guy like Christian McCaffrey and all the things he’s done for us in the run game and the pass game and is absolutely elite every single Sunday, he’s pretty impressive. The things that him and Tyreek are doing constantly, I don’t know how you don’t have them both in the MVP conversation.”
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Highlights of the San Francisco 49ers against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13 of the NFL season.
The 49ers are coasting towards a first-round bye in January as they seek to cash in on their star-studded cast in what is a Championship window for Shanahan’s side. Getting over the line if all offensive tackle Trent Williams really cares about, and so too the rest of his team.
“It means the offense is playing really well. I mean, we got the best running back in NFL,” said Williams. “So for him to get MVP consideration, I think that’s his just due. And same away with Brock. Brock’s been playing his butt off, so for him to be in a conversation as a teammate, I couldn’t be more proud of both of these guys.
“And my job is to try to continue to help them have success. Who cares as long as we can bring that trophy back to Santa Clara? That’s all I’m worried about.”