Jamie Nye: Cody Fajardo may be MVP but not MOP

The debate about the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ most outstanding player award is always a difficult one.

The biggest reason is you sound like you don’t think a player is any good if you say he shouldn’t be the most outstanding player.

That is the case with Cody Fajardo this season. If you were voting for the most valuable player, then you’d be hard-pressed to not pick the quarterback unless he really stunk it up or another player did something extraordinary.

But as a voter, I take the word “outstanding” to its core. A player should have an outstanding season to get an MOP nod.

And Cody Fajardo has not been outstanding this season. He has been good. He has been very good occasionally but not outstanding.

A.C. Leonard, Loucheiz Purifoy, Micah Johnson, Micah Teitz, Jonathan Woodard and Deon Lacey have been great and consistent all season.

Those were the players I considered for the top award because this Riders defence has been outstanding.