A look back at previous league MVP's

Season 1

QB Jason Garrett, San Antonio

Garrett was the first ever MVP of the first ever FWL season. He was the first real superstar QB of the league and led the league with 21 touchdown passes and over 3,400 yards (2nd in the league). The 7th year veteran who joined the FWL took his team to the playoffs with an 11-3 record but lost narrowly to the eventual FWL Bowl winners Birmingham in the AFC Game.

The following year Garrett who was the first ever MVP became the first ever major injury in the FWL. He was injured early in the 2Q of the first game of the season and was gone for the year. He came back a year later and played well with over 3,700 yards and 13 touchdowns and played even better the following year taking his team back to the playoffs. However in 2001 after another injury and a benching despite leading his team to the playoffs again he was cut as he was entering his 12th year. The veteran signed with Sacramento and only threw 6 passes in his first year. In his final season he had to start in the playoffs due to injury and Garett was brilliant for the Surge. In his first game he threw for over 400 yards in a win over Ohio and despite a close loss in the AFC Championship he set a playoff percentage record which still stands today (22a, 19c 86%) and in the AFC Game which proved to be his final action as he retired that offseason.

Season 2

HB Bobby Phillips, Frankfurt

The first non HB to win the award Phillips has actually won the MVP award twice which is a joint record, specially for a HB as theres have only been 3 HB MVP awards in 15 seasons !

Phillips in Season 2 was sensational, he rushed for over 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns, he had nearly 500 more rushing yards than any other HB and also caught 67 passes for over 600 yards. The Galaxy won FWL Bowl II and Phillips scored on a 24 yard reception in the game.

The next season Phillips struggled with injuries with a career low 668 yards in a season in which he started. He averaged just 3 yards a carry but came back fully healthy the following year and had over 800 yards. Phillips had a fine career in Frankfurt and is the best RB of all time.

Season 3

QB Dave Barr, Rhein

Dave Barr bounced around the league in the early seasons. Originally a Claymore he was traded to Austria but then the following season traded to Rhein. In the early years of the league defenses appeared to be much tougher, in Season 3 Barr was the only QB to have a 100+ rating and threw 13 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions. He led Rhein to an impressive 12-2 record and the top seed in the league. However in a huge EFC clash at home against the 12-2 Austria DarkKnights he made one of the worst decisions in his career. Trailling 16-12 late in the game Rhein appeared to be on their way to the winning touchdown late in the game, Barr threw into the endzone but Austrian CB Ernie Short intercepted and Austria went onto the FWL Bowl and became league champions. Barr made everyone forget about that mistake on the whole the following year when he went to FWL Bowl IV and won it all with Rhein. A great QB who rebounded from a disaster.

Barr went onto start for Rhein for a further 6 seasons, during his penultimate year in Rhein he had one of the best seasons of all time, 21 touchdowns and just 1 int for an incredible 119.0 rating. A year later he was surprisingly benched and then was traded to Birmingham. He did well with the Fire leading them to an AFC Championship game.

Season 4

QB Stan White, London Monarchs

Out of all the FWL MVP's Stan White was the most surprising, with defenses rampant in Season 4 only 3 QB's threw for over 3000 yards. Stan White finished second in the league in passing yards and 4th overall with an impressive rating of 92.7 and 15 td's and 4 ints. He was a surprise MVP and led London to an 8-5-1 record (they lost their last two regular season games). Whites nemesis was the playoffs and his career 0-5 record was obviously terrible. However with no rushing attack to help him (The leading London rusher had just under 500 yards) White had to do it all for London and had a great season considering he didnt have much help.

After his surprise MVP year White only started for one more season, he had over 3000 yards but has just 12 touchdowns and the following year was benched. He played just one game but did throw 4 touchdowns ! A year later he was surprisingly traded to Londons arch rivals Austria and started against his former team, the Monarchs were blitzing on nearly every play and knocked White from the game which led to his retirement. In the game before he left he threw just 48% of his passes for 172 yards and an int as the Monarchs defense was relentless.

Season 5

QB Stoney Case, Frankfurt

During the early years of the FWL Stoney Case and Bobby Phillips were the 1-2 punch for Frankfurt. Case would lead his team to the playoffs 10 times in his 10 seasons in the league and this year Case was MVP after leading his team to a 10-4 record and an FWL Bowl victory. On paper Case didnt have a great year as he threw just 9 touchdowns as he led a ball control offense but he was effective all throughout the season and rightly deserved the MVP title.

Case would lead his team back to the playoffs the following year but any chance of a repeat were dashed with a loss in the EFC Game. Case led his team to the playoffs for another 3 years but each time lost in the wildcard round. Finally an aging Stoney Case and an aging Bobby Phillips took the Galaxy to the FWL Bowl in Season 10 where they were defeated by Frankfurt but it was a great last hurrah for Case who then retired.

Season 6

HB Bobby Phillips, Frankfurt

The great Bobby Phillips help lead his team to an 11-3 record that season and the playoffs as he led the league in rushing with over 1,200 yards and scored 16 td's on the ground. In the end the Galaxy were beaten in the EFC Game by Austria but Phillips had his best season for several years.

The following year Phillips had another great year but saw his team lose in the wildcard round. He played another 3 years and had over 1000 yards in each of the last 2 seasons. Finally he decided to come back for one more year but as a backup, Phillips hardly played and rushed for just 189 yards but finished his career as the leading rusher and all purpose yards player ever.

Season 7

QB Dave Barr, Rhein

Back in Season 7 Dave Barr had the greatest season of all. Over 3,800 yards passing , 21 touchdowns and back then an unheard of 1 interception all year. He led Rhein to the FWL Bowl where they narrowly lost to Orlando in overtime. Barr led the top passing offense that year and was incredible with a 9.9 average per pass.

The following season Barr was injured and only threw 7 touchdowns and Rhein missed the playoffs. Just two seasons removed from the FWL Bowl , Barr was traded to Birmingham. In his first season with the Fire he led them to the AFC Championship but failed to make the playoffs the next year and decided to retire.

Season 8

QB Todd Bouman, Sacramento

Bouman came from nowhere to win the MVP award this year. Bouman a former backup with Austria was traded to Sacramento never throwing a pass and started the final game of Season 7. He played so well he was surprisingly given the starting job the following year. Bouman backed up the GM's confidence in him by having an amazing year with over 3,500 yards, 13 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions. He wasnt ranked the top QB that year but the young passer took Sacramento all the way to the AFC Championship.

Boumans 3000+ yard passing year was the first in a streak of 8 straight 3000+ yard seasons. Two years later he led the Surge to glory in FWL Bowl X and was game MVP with 4 touchdown passes. He led his team to 5 straight playoff seasons, was named All-FWL 3 times but never managed to get back to another FWL Bowl. He still played well in his 3 final non-playoff years but eventually retired last season.

Season 9

QB Danny Wuerffel, Montreal

Wuerffel was rightly the MVP in Season 9, he took over an 0-14 team and 4 seasons later took them to FWL Bowl glory. He had his best year ever with a 111+ rating and threw 19 touchdowns and just 3 ints as the Montreal offense were brilliant in a 12-2 regular season record.

Since that season Wuerffel has gone onto greater things, he has taken Montreal to the playoffs 9 straight seasons and two years after his MVP year he won another FWL Bowl championship and another one the following year ! 3 FWL Bowls in 4 years is an amazing record in the FWL and is the best 4 year period ever for any team. A year later he took his team to another FWL Bowl this time losing in overtime to Frankfurt, the Machine were so close to winning 3 in a row. Two more playoff years have followed but last year the Machine lost in the wildcard round. Still playing and still wanting a 4th FWL Bowl ring. However so far 4 FWL Bowls, 3 FWL Bowl wins is incredible.

Season 10

QB Jon Kitna, Barcelona

Kitna was the top ranked passer that season with 18 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions and nearly 3,500 yards. He led his team to a 9-5 record but fell in the wildcard round 25-19 in overtime to Frankfurt.

Kitna played another two seasons but the following year age caught up with Kitna and he threw 14 td's and a career high 12 ints. In his final season he hardly played and decided to retire.

Season 11

QB Jon Denton, Orlando

Denton led an explosive offense in Season 11 and took Orlando to a franchise tied best 10-4 record. The offense was the best in the league and Denton threw for over 3,500 yards, 20 td's and just 3 ints for a 108.5 rating, nearly 2 points above any other QB. His 99 yarder to Max von Garnier is still a joint league record. Orlando however lost in the wildcard round to reigning champs Sacramento.

Denton is still active in the league today, the season after his MVP year he was surprisingly benched after just 2 games as Orlando started poorly the following year. He bounced back the following year with 21 touchdowns but again was benched the year after yet again. Last year he came off the bench to perform well but its not certain he will start this year.

Season 12

QB Rohan Davey, Frankfurt

Rohan Davey had perhaps the greatest rookie season ever. The number 1 overall pick started from day 1 and was brilliant for Frankfurt. He threw 23 touchdowns and just 4 ints and over 3,700 yards as he led Frankfurt to an 11-3 record , a 6 game improvement on the previous year. Davey lost in the EFC Game to Amsterdam but the future looked great for the Galaxy.

Davey went onto greater things with Frankfurt after his rookie year, the following two years Davey won the FWL Bowl and the Galaxy offense was ranked the best for 2 of those 3 years. Last year with no great WR's to throw to Davey struggled but still led his team to the playoffs.

Season 13

HB Joe Aska, Frankfurt

How good were things for Frankfurt ? They had the former league MVP in QB Rohan Davey and then HB Joe Aska rolled off one of the best seasons of all time. With teams focusing on former rookie sensation Davey it made things easier for Joe Aska. Aska had some amazing games this season and finished the year with over 1,700 yards and an incredible 6.1 average and even more remarkable 23 touchdowns on the ground ! He scored another 2 receiving ! Aska smashed the FWL rushing yards in a season record and had the greatest game ever with 307 yards on just 15 carries including 5 touchdowns and an 80 yard td sprint !

After his incredible year Aska had another good season the next year with over 1,200 yards rushing but scored only 6 touchdowns. He continued to start in his final season despite an injury which caused him to miss several games and rushed for just over 800 yards. He retired after last year and had played in 4 FWL Bowls winning 3 of them.

Season 14

QB Michael Bishop, San Antonio

For a long time Bishop was one of the most exciting QB's in the league. He helped the Riders to an 11-3 record but yet again the Riders fell at the first hurdle. Bishop had a great season though, he had over 3,800 yards passing, threw a league record 24 touchdowns and led the Riders to the best offense in the league.

The following season was even better for Bishop, for a second straight year he led the league in passing with nearly 4,000 and threw 16 touchdowns. More importantly he took his team to the FWL Bowl where they lost but he finally got the monkey off his back when pundits said he could never win in the postseason.

Season 15

QB Phil Stambaugh, NY Knights

During the regular season Stambaugh is the league equivalent of Tom Brady. Year in year out Stambaugh is one of the top passers in the league, after injuries put him out of action a lot in Season 14 (still finished top in QB rating) Stambaugh came back with a vengence in Season 15 and finished top yet again with over 3,800 yards, an incredible league record 75.9% completion rate, 23 touchdowns and just 1 interception for the best ever year recorded in the FWL history books. However as always Stambaugh suffered a tight loss in the playoffs and his record in the postseason is just 1-4.

Despite his huge year a new GM arrived in New York and even hinted that Stambaugh might be available for a 'Herschel Walker' type trade ! Stambaugh looks however like he will settle in NY and start again for sure this year.