NFL Today: A Dark Horse Super Bowl MVP Candidate

This week, the Jets found their new OC in former Indianapolis and Carolina Head Coach Frank Reich; Christian McCaffrey won the 2025 USAA Salute to Service award; and Antoine Winfield Jr. came up with a huge interception to help the NFC win the Pro Bowl. Other Fantasy football related stories we’re tracking include…

DeMarcus Lawrence Driving Seattle’s D

With the Super Bowl just days away, it’s a fascinating exercise to speculate about who will emerge as the hero of the big game. Traditionally, the MVP is an offensive player, but every now and then a defensive star dominates and is actually recognized for his efforts.

And while a defensive player has only been named MVP nine times in 59 Super Bowls, could this be the year that we see an unlikely candidate take home the award?

How about Seattle Seahawks defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, for instance? This veteran enjoyed a fine bounce back campaign in his first season in Seattle after spending his entire 11-year career with the Dallas Cowboys.

You may recall that a few years back, Lawrence was a key member of a Cowboy defense that was actually good enough to be Fantasy friendly. But things went downhill for the unit last year, and a big reason why was because he was limited to four games with a Lisfranc injury. And we saw how poorly Dallas’ D did this season with Lawrence gone.

Seeking to win the big prize (see video below), he signed a three-year deal with the Seahawks last March and thrived, missing just one game (Achilles) while falling just short of a fifth season of double digit stuffs. In the playoffs, Lawrence — who apparently is a Genghis Khan fan — has really shone, recording three forced fumbles and two sacks in two games.

Matched up against New England left tackle Will Campbell, Lawrence has a great opportunity to dominate and really shift the balance in this game.

Coming out of Boise State, Lawrence was projected to be a starter right away because of his QB pressure skills, and the fact that he ranks 10th all-time in sacks in Dallas history is proof positive of this.

AJ Barner’s Breakout

Now let’s talk about a player on Seattle that’s even more likely to affect the Super Bowl, at least from a touchdown perspective.

Seahawk tight end AJ Barner is not a player that’s well known outside of the Fantasy football community and, of course, fans of the team, but he enjoyed a breakout in his second season and is considered among the best bets to hit paydirt on Sunday (+240 as an anytime TD scorer as per FanDuel).

The durable player set career bests across the board this season, including a 10.0 YPR, but has been relatively quiet in the playoffs, managing just two grabs on three targets (all in the NFC Championship game). Barner definitely opened some eyes with his play this season (finishing 14th among tight ends in half-PPR scoring), perhaps entrenching himself as the team’s TE1 for the foreseeable future, although 2025 second round pick Elijah Arroyo may have something to say about that next season.

Barner didn’t get a ton of volume this season, but saw plenty of red zone targets and that obviously made him far more Fantasy friendly.

For now, consider him a top 20 TE for dynasty purposes.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

In 1978, Chicago’s original guitarist Terry Kath died from an unintentional gunshot wound to the head. In trying to replace him, the band cycled through several guitarists. Back in 1970, Chicago released its second album, an eponymous effort which included the single “25 or 6 to 4,” and the B-side was “Where Do We Go from Here” – the first song Peter Cetera wrote with the band.

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