The NFL MVP race is heating up between New England Patriots second-year quarterback Drake Maye and the veteran, former No. 1 overall pick, and Super Bowl champion quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams, Matthew Stafford.
Following a three-interception performance on Monday Night Football, though, the pendulum appears to have swung closer to Maye, except in the eyes of an ESPN analyst who was a former teammate of Stafford.
Dan Orlovsky Defends Matthew Stafford
Before we dig into what Dan Orlovsky, Stafford’s former Detroit Lions teammate from 2014 to 2016, had to say, let’s take a look at the resume of each signal-caller.
- Maye: 13-3 record, 71.7% completion rate, 4,203 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, eight interceptions, 409 rushing yards, four touchdowns, and a PFSN QB Impact score of 90.2, which is second in the NFL.
- Stafford: 11-5 record, 65.2% completion rate, 4,448 passing yards, 42 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a PFSN QB Impact score of 82.8, which is seventh in the NFL.
While those are certainly comparable resumes, as Maye has the better record, completion percentage, rushing production, and PFSN QB Impact score, while Stafford has the edge in passing yards and passing touchdowns, the reaction from others on X seems to be pointing in Maye’s direction as well.
That said, Orlovsky’s argument has more to do with how each quarterback got to the numbers they have.
“One, if I was voting today, I would vote for Stafford. I think Drake Maye’s season this year I really believe is up there with as good a second-year performance a quarterback has had in the NFL. I think it’s a lot on par with what Joe [Burrow] did a couple years ago when he took Cincy to the playoffs and to the Super Bowl,” Orlovsky started to say during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“If I was voting for MVP today I would vote for Matthew Stafford..
How you acquire the stats and who you acquire those stats against has to a be part of the conversation” ~ @danorlovsky7 #PMSLive https://t.co/QG3Ky82kdn pic.twitter.com/TuEtYwIefF
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 30, 2025
“This is what I would say: For everybody that continues to point stats to me, OK, and I understand stats, context, all that, you guys all wanna talk about stats. You can’t in one hand talk about the stats and in the other conversation, ‘Well, who he did it against doesn’t matter.’ Yes, it does.
“How you acquire the stats and who you acquire those stats against has to be a part of the conversation, and it doesn’t mean we have to knock people for it, but it has to provide context in how those stats were acquired. If I went right now and played high school football, I would be ridiculous. Now, if I played in the NFL, I would be awful. So, who you do it against has to matter,” Orlovsky continued.
From there, fellow former NFL player Darius Butler pushed back a bit, saying “different leagues” about Orlovsky’s comparison of his high school ability to the NFL.
“I understand it’s different leagues, but, OK, so, if you took a quarterback and you played him against Seattle’s defense on a consistent basis and then you took a quarterback and played him against the Jets defense on a consistent basis, one quarterback is gonna have better stats because of that defense he’s playing against.
“Or, if you took the same quarterback, had him play against Seattle, had him play against the Jets 10 times in a row, you’re gonna perform better against the Jets than you did against Seattle.”
Which side do you fall on? Do you think Maye is more deserving, or did Orlovsky convince you otherwise?
