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Tom Brady has remained retired all season, but he hasn’t remained silent football this year, and now he’s given a nod to his hometown San Francisco 49ers.
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots quarterback weighed in on the league’s MVP race. A three-time MVP himself, Brady believes that 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey should win the award.
“I remember the first time I actually got a glimpse of Christian was in the Rose Bowl,” Brady said on his “Let’s Go!” podcast on Monday with McCaffrey as a guest. “He caught an angle pass against Iowa and ran for about a 75-yard touchdown. I was like, ‘Well, they’re not gonna catch him!’ … He was a dynamic player then.”
“He is a dynamic player now, and I think all of what he’s done this year is a lot [of] what he’s done in the past. It’s a different team with some different opportunities and they’ve been really dynamic on offense,” Brady added.
McCaffrey has a monster season going for the 49ers with 1,292 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns on 244 carries. He also has 57 catches for 509 yards and seven touchdowns.
“So he is definitely in my mind the MVP favorite and according to his quarterback too, Brock Purdy, who says some amazing things about him. … And I know you’ll say, because you’re a great team player, the Super Bowl is the only thing that really matters,” Brady said. “With the offseason that the running backs have, do you kind of feel like an award like that would be pretty nice?”
Running backs plummeted in value during the offseason and big-name backs such as Ezekiel Elliott, Dalvin Cook, and Leonard Fournette got waived over big contracts. All three found destinations with smaller deals this year.
Christian McCaffrey Reacts to Tom Brady’s Take
McCaffrey appreciated Brady’s take but put things in perspective.
“Well, I appreciate you saying that, man. That means a lot,” McCaffrey told Brady. “I don’t get into all the award stuff, but to your point, I just think even being in the conversation is an honor, and specifically for that reason and the timing of it with running backs and some of the stuff, and I think when you look at the history of the NFL and running backs and where we’re at now.”
“Every position other than a couple at some point has kind of had their dips as far as the market goes, and part of it is just fighting against the franchise tag and fighting against different things going on around the league,” McCaffrey added. “But, you know, I don’t know if that’s why it feels good. It does feel good. Obviously, there’s still a lot of football left and that’s really where my mind’s at.”
The 49ers (11-3) have arguably their toughest test of the season in Week 16 with the 11-3 Baltimore Ravens coming up next.
Tom Brady, Christian McCaffrey Agree on MVP Award’s Meaning
An award based largely on subjective criteria, both McCaffrey and Brady see the MVP as a team award.
“Yeah, I mean, I felt like I was a lot like Christian,” Brady told podcast host Jim Gray. “I felt like the team awards were — which was ultimately winning championships — was what it was all about. You can have a great individual year and you could be a really good player on a bad team, which is not very much fun.”
“I think for me it was always about celebrating the success with other players and the best moments weren’t accepting a trophy, an MVP trophy,” Brady added. “It was accepting a Super Bowl ring with all the people that played a part of that.”
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