The MVP award has become, essentially, a “best quarterback” award — with rare exceptions.

No non-quarterback has won the MVP prize since Vikings running back Adrian Peterson eked out the distinction over Peyton Manning in 2012. In the current century, a non-quarterback became the MVP only four times: Marshall Faulk in 2000, Shaun Alexander in 2005, LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006, and Peterson in 2012.

This year, a couple of running backs deserve serious consideration, based on what we’ve seen through four weeks.

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson is a touchdown waiting to happen, on any given play. His opening-drive 59-yard touchdown run on Monday night in New Orleans set the tone for Atlantas’ 45-24 win.

Though four games, Robinson has 494 yards rushing and 120 yards receiving and five total touchdowns.

Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III has become the straw that stirs the Kansas City cocktail. He has 537 yards rushing, 84 yards receiving, and six total touchdowns. He’s also the third player in NFL history to have 170 or more rushing yards in two of the first four games of a season, joining only Jim Brown and O.J. Simpson.

Both Robinson and Walker have 99 touches. Walker has gained 621 yards. Robinson has gained 614.

When it comes to the MVP betting odds (which are instructive to the general perceptions that surely will influence some or many of the 50 Associated Press voters), both Robinson and Walker are low on the list. Robinson, who was 70-1 when Simms and I discussed the dynamic earlier this morning on PFT Live, is now at 60-1. Walker is 50-1.

Currently, the eight highest players on the list of odds are quarterbacks.

Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs sits at 30-1, which may be a reflection of the bets made on him before the season started. (He has 102 touches and 540 yards from scrimmage, with seven touchdowns.)

Here’s the real question. Is the perception of “value” skewed by the fact that the best quarterbacks make so much more money than the best quarterbacks? The top of the quarterback market is approaching $65 million per year. Gibbs, the highest-paid running back, is at $22.5 million annually.

Robinson sits at $22.25 million per year. Walker, who signed as a free agent months before the Robinson and Gibbs deals were done, is making $14.35 million per year.

The best running backs are far more valuable to their teams than the market suggests. The existing market held back Walker, Robinson, and Gibbs. The enhanced injury risk at the position is a major factor in the unwillingness of teams to embrace the financial risk that the player at some point won’t be available.

While their “value” may not properly be reflected in their contracts, it needs to be recognized in their consideration for the MVP award. The present betting trends show that it’s not. Whether it will be comes down to the ability and willingness of the voters to stop viewing the MVP as a quarterback prize and to start looking at the definition of the prize, as articulated by the AP.

“The player who was most valuable to their team over the course of the season.”

Robinson and Walker fit the bill. Gibbs will, too, if the Lions can recover from a sluggish start and become true contenders.