National Football League

Schrager's Cheat Sheet: Cooper Kupp belongs in MVP race

Updated Dec. 26, 2021 3:55 p.m. ET

By Peter Schrager
FOX Sports NFL Analyst

Welcome to the Week 16 edition of the Schrager Cheat Sheet.

Each week, I take a look at several things you need to know heading into the NFL weekend. This week, we make a case for including Rams receiver Cooper Kupp in the MVP conversation, ponder how scary it could be for any defense to face the Eagles' offensive line in the playoffs and more.

1. The case for Kupp: Revisited

Way back in Week 3, I wrote an impassioned case for why Cooper Kupp might be the best wide receiver in the league. I was called a Hot Take guy (not the worst thing, to be honest), and the Diggs/Adams/Tyreek contingents joined like a Voltron to shoot me down.

Colin Cowherd: Kupp should be in MVP conversation

Colin Cowherd is bored with the NFL MVP, an award that has featured 14 quarterbacks in the past 15 years. If we're talking about the best players in the NFL, Colin believes there's a case to be made for Rams receiver Cooper Kupp.

But I stood by it then, and I stand by it now, 15 weeks into the 2021 season.

I'll go one step further. If you're going to put Jonathan Taylor in the MVP conversation, you absolutely have to include Kupp also. If we're opening this thing up to non-QBs, let's reward one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen from a receiver on a team that's entire offense works through his skill set. Kupp is elite in so many ways — ways that don't show up in the box score.

But let's start with the stats if we must.

Kupp has 20 more receptions than the league's No. 2 catch-grabber (Tyreek Hill), 290 more receiving yards than the next closest wide receiver (Justin Jefferson) and three more receiving touchdowns than the next closest player in the league (Mike Evans). He has the most 40-yard catches and the most 20-yard catches.

Kupp is a true No. 1 on a team that's second-leading receptions magnet, Robert Woods, has nearly 80 fewer catches and hasn't played since Nov. 7. Kupp's been a revelation, and he's doing it on a 10-win team that relies on him to be its offensive engine.

From speaking with his coaches — as I do on a weekly basis during the season — it's not Kupp's height or his feet or his hands that amaze them. It's the fact that he is the total package. He speaks and absorbs information like a quarterback — or, even better, an extension of his head coach.

He has what Aqib Talib described as "wiggle" on Wednesday, too. Talib mused that Kupp is probably a great break dancer at weddings. His coordination is supreme; his moves are that smooth. Kupp is chasing down Steve Smith's 2005 season as the most statistically dominant of this century, and I don't see any reason he won't win the Triple Crown at wide receiver this season.

If you're going to open this MVP race to non-QBs, you can't limit it to Taylor. Kupp has to be in the conversation, too.

2. Run, Eagles, run

What a treat it has been to watch this Philadelphia Eagles offense operate over the past two months. Philadelphia is 7-7 and just outside the NFC playoff picture, and they're doing it with a brand of football from a bygone era.

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It's difficult not to appreciate a team that runs for 175-plus yards in seven straight games, and Philadelphia is the first team to accomplish that feat since the 1985 Bears. The Eagles boast the No. 1 rushing offense in the NFL, and those carries have come from a host of different backs and their quarterback, Jalen Hurts.

The key is their offensive line, which is anchored by Jason Kelce and bookended by two tackles — Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson — who are about the last two people you'd want to see coming at you in a street brawl. Offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland has groomed Mailata into a mauling force, and the 6-foot-8, Australian-born man-child is blossoming into one of the best in the game.

The Eagles have been gashing opposing defenses week after week in the ground game, and their defense has done the rest. Philly isn't the scariest team in the world — they can be beaten. But gosh, they won't be fun to play in January.

3. Amani O

One of my favorite players in the league this season is Lions cornerback Amani Oruwariye.

A third-year player who was well-liked but hardly a star under the previous regime, Oruwariye is quickly becoming one of the most feared defensive backs in the sport. His six interceptions lead the team and rank third in the NFL. His wildly exciting interception of Kyler Murray (with the Gus Johnson call) in the third quarter of Detroit's massive upset win went viral on Sunday.

Oruwariye went to Penn State as a lightly recruited player, earned his stripes on special teams and then was All-Big Ten at defensive back before being drafted in the fifth round by Detroit in the 2019 draft. He played nine games with two starts as a rookie in 2019 and played all 16 with 15 starts in 2020.

He has started every game this season, and though he missed Wednesday's practice due to a thumb injury, the hope is that he can go the full 17; he's Detroit's only corner to be able to say that. At 6-foot-2, he is a long, big-bodied force to be reckoned with.

4. De'Vondre snubbed

I don't make too much of the Pro Bowl. I don't understand how the voting works, I value All-Pro's, and in the end, I always assume everyone makes a Pro Bowl if they hang around the league long enough.

But I don't like injustice. And the fact that De'Vondre Campbell wasn't even voted in as an alternate has me a bit disappointed.

Campbell's story is what we look to rally around. He was a starter for Dan Quinn's Falcons for years, signed on to Kliff Kingsbury's Cardinals for the 2020 season and then found himself on the street in the 2021 offseason. Campbell then joined Green Bay, where he promptly has become one of the team's best and most trusted defensive players.

Campbell has a gripe for being left off as a starter, but he certainly was at least backup-worthy. So were Rasul Douglas, Adrian Amos and Rashan Gary. The Packers, despite being the No. 1 seed in the NFC at the moment, had only three players selected to the NFC's Pro Bowl team: Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and Kenny Clark. That's not right.

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5. Diggs-Jackson, Part 2

The matchup within the matchup Sunday will be Stefon Diggs versus J.C. Jackson when the Bills travel to New England. This game suddenly feels a lot different than it did heading into last weekend's slate.

In three matchups between Diggs and Jackson since Diggs was traded to Buffalo, Jackson has one interception but has allowed two touchdowns while covering Diggs, per PFF.

Jackson, arguably the AFC's top cornerback this season, lined up across from Diggs on 65%-plus of Diggs’ routes in those three games, including 90.3% (28 of 31) in Week 13 of this season.

Jackson and the Patriots got the best of Diggs and the Bills the first time around, but that feels like a year ago. With Cole Beasley out Sunday, look for Josh Allen to focus on getting Diggs going early and often. This matchup could end up deciding the AFC East division crown.

This is not quite Andre Rison vs. Deion Sanders, but it's not that far off.

Who ya got?

Peter Schrager is an NFL writer for FOX Sports and a host of "Good Morning Football" on NFL Network.