This Chicago Bears player surprisingly lands on list of 2024 NFL MVP candidates

The Chicago Bears had a terrible season in 2024, making this player's appearance on a list of NFL MVP candidates a shock to fans.

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The NFL's MVP award is traditionally given to the best quarterback within the cluster of Super Bowl contenders. The best player on a bad team, even if that player is the most dynamic quarterback in the league, won't take home the hardware. For non-quarterbacks, the chances are even lower—regardless of whether they’re on a championship-caliber roster.

That’s why Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson’s inclusion on ESPN’s Top 100 Real MVP Candidates list comes as a total surprise.

To be fair, ESPN conditioned its list by making sure quarterbacks aren't given preferential treatment.

ESPN's Seth Walder explained how his top-100 was created.

"To create my initial rankings, I ranked players by position and slotted them into an overall list," Walder wrote. "I leaned on a wide variety of quantitative metrics -- win rates, receiver tracking metrics, coverage data, various EPA measures --- along with my own analysis. Qualitative considerations such as All-Pro teams and PFF grades were considered, too."

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Walder edited his rankings after sharing them with talent evaluators and media colleagues. The end result? Johnson earned the penultamate ranking: No. 99.

Eight cornerbacks ranked ahead of Johnson on ESPN's list.

Johnson was the Bears' highest-graded player on defense (among regular starters). His 76.2 Pro Football Focus grade barely edged out Kyler Gordon, who scored a 76.0.

The fifth-year cornerback earned a Pro Bowl bid for the second year in a row after finishing the season with a career-high 53 tackles and seven tackles for loss.

At this point in Jaylon Johnson's career (and the Bears' rebuild), he's clearly the most respected player on the roster. And he's earned it.

Still, it's surprising that any Chicago Bear cracked this list, even if it spanned 100 players and included all teams.

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