If you had to pick someone on the Raiders to make a wild run at MVP this year, who would it be?
Brock Bowers? Tight ends never get the love the deserve, but with the way his rookie season went, it wouldn't be all that surprising.
What about Maxx Crosby? I can't imagine a world where an edge rusher ever gets close to winning the MVP at this point, but if there were a guy who deserved it, Crosby fits the bill. Also, how cool would it be if Ashton Jeanty won Rookie of the Year and MVP?!!
Fine, I'll stop.
RELATED: Bleacher Report says what every Raiders fan already knows about Maxx Crosby
The point is: there are some real capital-G Guys on the Raiders roster right now, and that's fun. But according to NFL.com, none of them is the best MVP candidate on the Raiders. That belongs to [drumroll] Geno Smith!
What a twist: the QB of a team is the frontrunner for MVP. However, Geno being someone getting that sort of love is a wonderful change of pace for Raider Nation. In a new article that dropped this week, NFL.com went team-by-team to pick out the best MVP candidate on each roster, and their Geno Smith blurb, admittedly, gets me pretty jacked up.
The Geno Smith expectations are already going through the roof in Las Vegas
"The Raiders knew they had to upgrade at quarterback this offseason, and Smith represents their best hope at the position since peak Derek Carr, who finished third in MVP voting in 2016. Las Vegas might not be overflowing with offensive talent, but Smith might be able to bring this offense together enough to put himself in the running. He finished tied for ninth in the MVP race just three seasons ago and could still have enough left in the tank, even as he’s set to turn 35 this year."
All this does is reinforce just how big of an upgrade the Raiders made at quarterback this season. No longer will the fan base be subjected to the likes to Jimmy Garoppolo, Gardner Minshew or Brian Hoyer.
Even though Smith probably won't land in too many Top 10 quarterback lists between now and Week 1 of the NFL season, I'd argue (and so would NFL.com, apparently) that basically no team in the league is going to see a bigger improvement at that position.