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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/sip-em_bears on 2024-07-15 14:49:15+00:00.
Here is Randal Cunningham’s first full year as a starter in 1988 compared to Lamar Jackson’s 2023 MVP season:
| Player | Games | Pass Yards | Pass TD | Int | Rush Yards | Rush TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Randall Cunningham | 16 | 3808 | 24 | 16 | 624 | 6 |
| Lamar Jackson | 16 | 3678 | 24 | 7 | 821 | 5 |
Obviously Cunningham had more interceptions, but it was also in an era where turnovers were just more common. Another way of looking at this, is to see where those guys ranked in the same categories for their respective seasons:
| Player | Pass Yards | Pass TD | Int | Rush Yards | Rush TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Randall Cunningham | 3rd | 4th | 7th | 24th | 20th |
| Lamar Jackson | 15th | 11th | 26th | 22nd | 24th |
Here is every player that has at least 2 seasons with a 1st or 2nd place finish in MVP voting since the merger:
Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Steve Young, Earl Campbell, Eric Dickerson, Joe Montana, Randall Cunningham, Marshall Faulk, Barry Sanders, Dan Fouts, Jerry Rice, John Elway, Kurt Warner, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Walter Payton
If Lamar makes it in (which I think he will), that’s 18 HOFers out of 19 players.
I want to be clear, this is NOT an anti-Lamar post. I just don’t think Cunningham gets the respect he deserves. A lot of NFL fans today think Vick was the first great running QB because of Madden, but Cunningham was the QB that people thought Vick could be. This phrase often gets overused, but Cunningham was a problem.