Niner Noise
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3 49ers players who could win NFL MVP award in 2020

By Josh Altorfer

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 07: George Kittle #85 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 after scoring a touchdown in the third quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Levi's Stadium on October 07, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 07: George Kittle #85 of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo #10 after scoring a touchdown in the third quarter against the Cleveland Browns at Levi's Stadium on October 07, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers
Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /

No. 1: Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo

The MVP is not exclusively a quarterback award, but it sure has seemed that way lately. Throughout the last 10 years, only one non-quarterback took home the award and that was Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in 2012.

This gives Jimmy Garoppolo the best odds to win the award by default. Fans might be disappointed in Jimmy G’s subpar postseason performance, but look for him to make a huge leap in his second full year with the 49ers.

Falcon’s quarterback Matt Ryan won an MVP award in his second season of Kyle Shanahan calling plays. Garoppolo had a statistically better year than Ryan did in his first full year under Shanahan. He had six more touchdown passes and three fewer interceptions.

Garoppolo could improve his passing numbers with another offseason of work and more trust from his head coach.

The 49ers run game and defense was so dominant throughout the 2019 regular season that Garoppolo did not have to air it out often to win games.

This might not be the case in 2020.

Teams will be keying on the Niners’ run game next year, putting the pressure on Jimmy G. Shanahan and Garoppolo know this will be the case and will certainly have to have an answer to move the ball throw the air more efficiently.

Shanahan has already proven his system can produce an MVP-caliber quarterback as it did in 2016.

Garoppolo will be playing with added motivation after coming up short in Super Bowl LIV. An MVP campaign is well within reach for the talented signal-caller.

Next. 49ers shouldn't move on from Jimmy Garoppolo. dark

Another year to digest Shanahan’s complicated scheme as well as another year removed from major knee surgery could catapult the 49ers quarterback to most valuable player status.