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NFL Awards Watch: Elliott, Prescott or Wentz? What a fun rookie of the year race

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

If Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and quarterback Dak Prescott can keep this up all season, it might be the best offensive rookie of the year race ever. You could argue for all three being in the MVP mix at this way-too-early date.

With all due respect to Chicago Bears running back Jordan Howard, Houston Texans receiver Will Fuller, Cleveland Browns Corey Coleman (who would have been an interesting candidate right now had he not broken his hand), Bears center Cody Whitehair or Tennessee Titans tackle Jack Conklin, they’re out for now (your weekly disclaimer: yes, it’s obviously too early to be voting on awards, but it’s fun to talk about so relax). In any other year they’d be in the mix, but the top three are far ahead of everyone else.

Elliott, Prescott and Wentz are all off to amazing starts. Let’s compare the quarterbacks. Prescott’s Cowboys have played one more game than Wentz’s Eagles:

Wentz: 91 of 135 (67.4 percent), 1,007 yards, 7 TD, 1 INT, 103.5 rating
Prescott: 107 of 155 (69 percent), 1,239 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT, 101.5 rating

Those aren’t numbers were used to seeing from any rookie quarterback, much less two in the same season.

Prescott also has three rushing touchdowns and Wentz doesn’t have any, so they both have seven touchdowns accounted for. Both are quarterbacks for teams that have just one loss.

It’s almost impossible to separate the two at this point. I’d give a slight edge to Wentz because he has had very similar production with a higher degree of difficulty, considering he doesn’t have the offensive line or running game Dallas does. Speaking of which …

Elliott: 109 carries, 546 yards, 5 yards per carry, 5 TD, 9 catches, 81 yards

That’s impressive. Elliott leads the NFL in carries, yards and yards per game (109.2). He and David Johnson of the Arizona Cardinals (who leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage) have been the two best running backs in football so far.

How do you choose? Even though Elliott has been arguably the most productive of the three, the other two play the most important position in the game.

Right now I think Elliott leads the offensive rookie of the year race based on sheer production, though if I was starting a team from this moment on I’m picking one of the quarterbacks. It’s a fascinating ROY race though, and you can make a great argument for any of the three — though I think one of the quarterbacks will be dropping out soon because he’ll be back on the bench, and it’s not that Wentz will be replaced by Chase Daniel.

We’ll see where the race goes from here, and if someone like Howard makes a huge push over the next 12 weeks of the season. It’s shaping up as one of the best rookie of the year races in recent memory.

Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott are off to great starts as rookies (AP)
Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott are off to great starts as rookies (AP)

MVP rankings

1. Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan — Hard to deny Ryan’s spot atop the MVP rankings, after he led a win at the Denver Broncos with just 29 yards from Julio Jones. He’s easily No. 1 right now, even if you don’t believe he can keep this up for the rest of the season.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger — I kept Roethlisbger off the ballot last week because we were four games in and he was just OK in one (Week 2 vs. Cincinnati) and bad in another (Week 3 at Philadelphia). But the last two weeks he has 680 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions. That’ll get you in an MVP race.

3. Dallas Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott — When you lead the NFL in rushing for a team that is surpassing expectations with a 4-1 start, you deserve a spot in the MVP race.

4. Denver Broncos OLB Von Miller — Even though the Broncos defense looked surprisingly vulnerable last week, Miller still had an incredible highlight with a lightning-fast spin move and a sack on Ryan.

5. New England Patriots QB Tom Brady — He’s going on the list after just one (great) game because my guess is he ends up winning the MVP at the end. He obviously doesn’t have the counting stats to be on a ballot if the vote had to be made right now, but putting him in the top five now is an educated projection.

Defensive player of the year: I think this might be a wire-to-wire win without much suspense.

The ballot: 1. Miller. 2. Kansas City CB Marcus Peters. 3. Los Angeles Rams DT Aaron Donald.

Coach of the year: This category will have a lot more suspense because the way people vote for it is so, so weird. Everyone knows who the best coach in football is, but my guess is he won’t ultimately win the award. Still, he’s No. 1 in this space.

The ballot: 1. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. 2. Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer. 3. Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn.

Offensive rookie of the year: My guess is it’ll end up being Elliott vs. Wentz when Tony Romo gets his job back, and that would still be a great race. And who knows, maybe Prescott keeps Romo on the bench. What a story that would be.

The ballot: 1. Elliott. 2. Wentz. 3. Prescott.

Defensive rookie of the year: I’m bumping Oakland Raiders safety Karl Joseph up because it’s clear the Raiders simply made a coaching mistake not playing him on defense the first two games. He’s a very nice playmaker for that team. And Joey Bosa’s two-sack debut certainly caught my attention, and he might show up on the top three soon.

The ballot: 1. Joseph. 2. Atlanta Falcons LB Deion Jones. 3. Jacksonville Jaguars CB Jalen Ramsey.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!