NFL MVP Race 2018: Top 10 candidates at midseason

7. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots

Tom Brady is widely considered the greatest quarterback of all time. Many people have looked at the Patriots roster over the years, and they notice that when players leave New England, they aren’t the same, and that’s probably because they fit the system so well. That said, even Brady has his limits to where the talent is bad enough to where even he can’t produce.

He was without Julian Edelman for four weeks. And for the entire season, Rob Gronkowski has been up and down. Gronkowski has three games where his catch percentage was under 50. That’s already the most times in one season for his career, and it may be a sign of things slowing down for him.

The fact that he was able to keep the Patriots afloat during the Edelman suspension and Gronkowski playing poorly is amazing, but he’s on pace to tie his career high in interceptions. So, even though he’s still playing well, he’s not the Tom Brady of old, and players are performing well and other teams are winning as a result.

He did a great job holding the fort down in absence of a key player and the diminishing play of his top target, but that doesn’t mean others haven’t surpassed him for this season. The MVP isn’t a lifetime achievement award. For 2018, there are others that have a more integral part to team success.