A Los Angeles quarterback won MVP last year. Will Justin Herbert make it two LA MVPs in two seasons?
Since both current Los Angeles teams relocated to the city, the Rams have been the top dogs. Currently, both playing at SoFi Stadium, the Rams got to host a Super Bowl and hoist the trophy too.
The Rams have better home attendance by a couple of thousand fans. They are also up 1.2 million on total social media followers. But back to the MVP race. The Rams' quarterback Matthew Stafford, won in a close call over Drake Maye, with a Justin Herbert vote possibly swinging the call. With all the intangibles and aura that the Stafford and Sean McVay-led Rams possess, they have some pretty significant tangibles, too, in the form of some out-of-this-world playmakers. The Rams even made a Super Bowl and lost a close game to the Patriots in the Jared Goff era, so they've been up on the Chargers for a while. Leading the charge in offensive talent on the Rams roster is offensive player of the year finalist Puka Nacua. Nacua made Davante Adams' touchdown scoring rampage seem like an afterthought with some of the gaudy numbers he put up.
With Kyren Williams and Blake Corum spearheading the running game, and old reliable Tyler Higbee as a pass-catching threat with Colby Parkinson filling in, the team is loaded with Stafford orchestrating and throwing dots.
So while those were some challenges to Herbert snagging the MVP trophy, certain things bode well for him going into next season as well. He's getting his offensive tackles back, the Center position will be retooled as well, and mastermind playcaller Mike McDaniel can bring some of that innovative magic the other Los Angeles team has. It's a miracle Herbert didn't get even more banged up this past season with the offensive line in shambles. He led the league in scramble yards and, other than a broken hand, was mostly unscathed. But something had to give with the O-line. As of the current writing, the Chargers are looking at 83 million in cap space, and Jim Harbaugh seems like someone equipped to make the right decisions to bring them back to prominence.
The foundation has been set with a solid roster on both sides of the ball and head coaching stability and acumen for the first time in the Herbert era. Now they just have to build it out and hope they stay relevant and healthy long enough into the season for some lucky bounces to go with their quarterback's arm talent. Nacua on the perimeter and Adams in the red zone wouldn't hurt either, but they're on that other LA team.