NFL Award Predictions: First-Quarter Edition

Offensive Player of the Year

Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs

The first indicator of how crazy Kareem Hunt's first three games have been is that I had to go back to Adrian Peterson's MVP season of 2012 for a comparison -- and Hunt is on pace (granted, it's three games) to best Peterson's numbers.

Hunt leads the NFL with 401 rushing yards, has 6 total touchdowns (second only to Todd Gurley's 7, which Gurley has done in four games) and is averaging an insane 8.5 yards per carry. Extrapolating just his rushing totals out over a 16-game season gives him 2,139 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns, putting him on pace to break the single-season rushing record by 34 yards, .

Additionally, Hunt is averaging 179 total yards from scrimmage per game; that's only 70 yards less than the entire Miami Dolphins team is averaging. For context of how incredible this number is, peep this -- in Peterson's 2012 campaign, AP averaged 144 yards from scrimmage, and that is the best number a player has posted in the last five years.

The next closest scrimmage yards leader is Chris Johnson from his magical 2009 season in which he posted 2,509 yard for a 156.8 average. Extrapolating Hunt's scrimmage yards over 16 games gives us 2,864 total yards from scrimmage, which would be the most in NFL history.

Lastly, Hunt's rushing NEP is a league high 19.67, which is 227% higher then the next closest back (Devonta Freeman).

Now, we shouldn't expect Hunt to continue on at quite this blistering of a pace throughout the whole season, but this red-hot start has made him the man to beat in the Offensive Player of the Year race.