Last night Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford won the NFL MVP award for the first time in his two-decade career. This morning, ESPN's Ryan Clark had some thoughts on his achievement and promptly got roasted for them.
Appearing on First Take, Clark declared that Stafford's MVP win solidifies him as not only a first-ballot Hall of Fame player, but one of the top 10 quarterbacks of all-time.
"It solidifies him as a first ballot Hall of Famer. It puts him in the top 10 of quarterbacks that's ever played this game," Clark declared.
The panel on the show seemed to agree with Clark but didn't press him on his comments one way or another.
The fans, on the other hand, did.
Backlash
Not every quarterback who's ever won an MVP and a Super Bowl rank in the top-10 of all-time. Joe Theismann and Kurt Warner are just two examples.
Of course, NFL fans had far more to say on the matter:
"Brady, Montana, Mahomes, Manning, Unitas, Baugh, Luckman, Graham, Marino, Elway, Rodgers, Staubach, Bradshaw, Young and Brees are all inarguably better. That doesn’t include Aikman, Starr, Tittle, Fouts, Jurgensen, Warner, Moon, Kelly, Favre and Stabler, who are arguable but certainly a conversation with Stafford. That’s 25 guys. He’s not in the top 10," one user on X remarked.
"I don’t get why we can’t celebrate an accomplishment like Stafford winning the MVP without saying things like this. He’s not a top 10 QB of all time," wrote another.
"I Love Stafford. He’s not even top 20 all time," a third wrote.
© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Stafford has now achieved everything there is to achieve as an NFL quarterback. He has a Super Bowl ring and an NFL MVP award.
Canton will probably come calling for him eventually thanks to his longevity and accomplishments, but we can pump the brakes on giving him more credit than he deserves.