LA Chargers 2020 midseason awards: MVP, most improved and more

Defensive Player Of The Year: Joey Bosa, Edge Defender

There is no other choice here, unfortunately. The sad reality of this Chargers defense right now is that Joey Bosa is in a league of his own. That was blatantly obvious on Sunday against the Raiders.

Tillery played well in his stead, but it was still a massive drop off. Ingram is not the same player he once was, and he struggles without Bosa in the lineup. Uchenna Nwosu has shown some really nice flashes and should take over for Ingram next year.

The entire secondary had been a huge let down without James and Harris. Kyzir White and Kenenth Murray have shown flashes of being a very good linebacking tandem, but they have been inconsistent as well.

This award belongs to the Chargers’ best defensive player and second most important player on the active roster. Even with a bye week and missing this past Sunday due to a concussion, he is still tied for seventh in the league in pressures with 37.

Only Aaron Donald, Shaq Barrett, TJ Watt, Stephon Tuitt, Myles Garrett and Grady Jarrett have more. He’s got five sacks to go along with the 37 pressures as well as 16 stops. To put it simply, he is having a great season for the Chargers.

Highest pass-rush win rates:1. T.J. Watt – 27%2. Aaron Donald – 25%3. Joey Bosa – 23%T-4. Chris Jones – 21%T-4. Demarcus Lawrence – 21% pic.twitter.com/JyEsu8ETM5

— PFF (@PFF) November 2, 2020

Offensive Player Of The Year: Keenan Allen, Wide Receiver

Since Herbert took over the starting quarterback position in week two, Keenan Allen has been on an absolute tear. Outside of the New Orleans game when he left early to injury, he has surpassed the 60-yard mark in every single one of Herbert’s seven starts.

In those six games, he has been targeted over ten times in all of them, and he’s caught at least seven passes in all six as well. He is Herbert’s number one target, as well as his security blanket. Time and time again, Allen is looked at in key moments.

He’s a machine on third down for the rookie quarterback. In fact, he leads all qualified receivers in third-down targets, receptions and conversions. That is reliability and consistency at it’s finest.

Keenan Allen leads the NFL in targets (26), receptions (21) and first downs (18) on third down this season.

— Rich Hribar (@LordReebs) November 9, 2020

It seems that yet again, he is being overlooked around the league in terms of the best wide receivers. The one thing that seems that will change that, is his touchdown output. He’s remarkably scored just six in each of the last three years. He currently has four in seven games with Herbert.

His career-high is still that ten from his rookie season, getting back to double digits would go a long way for helping him get the national respect he deserves.

Something that kind of got glossed over in the loss on Sunday is the fact that Keenan Allen is now just one reception away from moving into second place for the most receptions in franchise history. He’ll be 29 by the time the 2021 season starts.

At his current pace this season he’ll likely end the year around 640 catches. Meaning he would need just over 300 catches to pass Antonio Gates’ all-time record. He’s an all-time great player for this franchise and he’s only getting better with age.