Montreal’s Davis Alexander gets the nod thanks to his impressive numbers through the first quarter of the campaign, with Cody Fajardo right behind.
With all the talk as of late with regards to potential record-setting performances from the Edmonton Elks’ Justin Rankin and Montreal Alouettes’ Tyson Philpot and their CFL Most Outstanding Player potential, another name popped into the list on Friday afternoon.
Saskatchewan Roughriders analyst Luc Mullinder joined the SportsCage for his weekly segment and offered his take on what could be a very interesting MOP race – and his choice for the winner at this point in the season came as a bit of a surprise.
“Davis Alexander or maybe Cody Fajardo,” Mullinder said. “I think those guys are playing at a high level. I think Philpot’s also playing at a high level, but he wouldn’t be getting the ball if it wasn’t for Davis Alexander, right? And I think Rankin would be the guy next.”
The numbers certainly don’t hurt Mullinder’s case.
Alexander is having a whale of a season, completing 129 of 184 passes for 1,779 yards and eight touchdowns without having thrown a single interception through five games. Fajardo is more of a long shot, but with 1,499 yards passing through his first five games, there’s no doubt things are going surprisingly well for him as well.
Mullinder went on to explain how Davis and Fajardo are able to get things done at such a high level, and interestingly enough, it’s in no small part due to the Montreal and Edmonton running games. Both clubs have the kind of rushing attack that opens up room for the pass, and as a result, create openings for success for both quarterbacks.
That’s where Rankin comes in, with his incredible 513 yards rushing and 297 yards receiving through five games playing a major role in Fajardo’s early season success.
“He is awesome,” Mullinder said. “That guy is one of the better all-around football players in our league right now. He is a threat every single sort of inch of the field. And even better is behind Rankin they have another starter [in Javon Leake]. So it’s not as if Rankin’s going to get exhausted. You can keep both of those really good running backs fresh, and, man, does it ever pay off.”
Fajardo has been more than happy to take advantage of the situation, too.
“That’s why Cody’s playing so well,” Mullinder said. “Cody knows that he’s got two weapons that keep the linebackers low anytime he looks like he’s going to hand the ball off, that clears up throwing space for him. Edmonton’s got a real good thing going there.”
Mullinder added that it’s much the same situation in Montreal, with Travis Theis grinding out yards at a decent rate with Shomari Lawrenece and Stevie Scott III doing an effective job spelling him off.
“Those two teams right now have probably the best one-two back combos in the leagues, and that’s why they’re at the top of their divisions,” Mullinder said. “That kind of offence, man, it’s hard. It’s hard to stop.”
Mullinder had plenty more to chat about on Friday, including what he would tell teams about Jaxon Ford’s early success and an utterly hilarious breakdown of the ‘F Around Bison’ from Yellowstone.