2017 NFL Awards: Our Writers See Tom Brady as MVP

Offensive Player of the Year: Todd Gurley (16)

Runner-ups: Antonio Brown (2), Russell Wilson (1), Alvin Kamara (1)

Each season, Offensive Player of the Year is typically given to the best non-quarterback in the league since MVP generally goes to a quarterback. This year, per our writers, it’s pretty clear that player was Todd Gurley.

Gurley was one of the many Los Angeles Rams players who improved by not playing for coach Jeff Fisher. After a disappointing season in 2016, when Gurley was last in Rushing NEP among 43 running backs with at least 100 carries, he finished fourth in Rushing NEP in 2017. He was sixth in Total NEP per touch -- rushes plus receptions -- among backs with at least 100 touches.

While he wasn’t as efficient as some other backs, there were few who were bigger parts of their team’s game plan, and that high volume made it tough for Gurley to maintain the efficiency of some other running backs.

Gurley was on the field for 76.4 percent of the Rams’ offensive plays, which was second among running backs (behind Le'Veon Bell). A whopping 36.6 percent of the Rams’ plays were either a Gurley rush or a Gurley target -- again that was only topped by Bell’s 40.6 percent.

Gurley, though, more than doubled Bell’s efficiency -- 0.19 NEP per touch to 0.08 -- and was the main factor in the league’s fifth-best rushing offense and seventh-best overall offense, per our schedule-adjusted metrics.

Gurley also led all players in yards from scrimmage -- 2,093 -- and had a league-leading 19 total touchdowns on the season.