Mid season awards

JosiahLee

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Well it’s the bye week and I need some fun conversations to get me through another week without Cardinals football!

Last week on 98.7 they were discussing what players have made the most impact thus far. They voted on 3 categories:

1. Non QB MVP (they removed K1 from the conversation bc he’s obviously played tremendously leading the team to 4 wins in a row & 1st place in the NFC West)

2. Defensive Player of the year.

3. Unsung Hero of the team.

To me the Non QB MVP has to be Chad Ryland. He is single-handedly responsible for 3 of our 6 wins. Not only did he kick 3 game-winning kicks, he did it under the most ridiculous pressure. Had he missed any of those kicks we lose those games. Again, those kicks happened when we were LOSING. It’s one thing to make the kick when the game is tied and missing means simply going to overtime, but it’s a different level of pressure to make the kick when missing means game over. There’s a world where we are 3-7 right now and in dead last in the NFC West without Ryland coming up clutch again and again and again.

My defensive player of the year has to go to Budda. He’s got 100 total tackles and 7 TFL. He’s been outstanding.

With that said I’m extremely pleased with Garrett Williams and the defensive line as a whole has completely over-performed.

For the last category of unsung hero, I thought about Froholdt (he was a backup none of us knew when we signed him last year and now he is easily a top 10 center) but I’m going with Beachum.

Whats not to love about Beach? At age 35 he’s still holding steady in his 13th season. He’s played for 4 teams in his career and now his longest tenure is as an Arizona Cardinal (he’s in his 5th season with the Cardinals). He was forced into action in week 1 and hasn’t been a liability at all at RT. I’m honestly not sure Jonah Williams is going to be a noticeable upgrade.

Who are your winners in these 3 categories?
 

CardsFan1399

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Non-QB: James Conner He’s a beast

Defensive: Budda Baker Heart and soul of an overachieving D

Unsung: Blake Gillikin Thought about Ryland, but he has been “sung” after the game winning kicks. Gillikin has been a weapon by helping flip the field.
 

Redsz

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I'm so glad to be talking about multiple players who could be selected for these categories. A welcome change!
 

vince56

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Non-QB: McBride

Defensive: Budda Baker

Unsung: Starling Thomas
Conner has 5 TDs and the most broken tackles in the NFL. He has 697 yards vs McBride's 552. McBride has 1 rushing TD and 1 TD off a forced fumble, still no receiving TDs. No knock on McBride, but he's not as valuable to this year's squad as Conner.

Can't argue with Budda on defense. He's been lights-out, like having 13 guys on defense.

Unsung has to be the kicker, Ryland. Without him, we're a losing squad. He's been money when called upon.
 
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