The NFL Honors ceremony for the 2025-26 season is tonight, and everyone’s focus is on which player will be named the Most Valuable Player this year.
The top two candidates are both quarterbacks: Drake Maye of the New England Patriots and Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams. While excitement grows by the minute as we wait to see who wins MVP this year, now is as good a time as any to look back on past winners of the award.
Over 67 years, there have 69 MVP winners (there were ties for the award in 1997 and 2003). All of the winners were great in their own right, but which ones were the best of the best?
10) Walter Payton, 1977
The Chicago Bears didn’t accomplish much team success early in Walter Payton’s career; that wouldn’t come until the mid-1980s. However, the man dubbed “Sweetness” had plenty of individual accomplishments in his first few seasons, including the 1977 NFL MVP in just his third year in the league.
Payton held the rushing Triple Crown in 1977, leading the NFL with 1,852 rushing yards, 14 rushing touchdowns, and 5.5 yards per carry. He led the second-place finisher in rushing yards by nearly 600 yards, and he practically single-handedly led a lackluster Bears offense to a 9-5 record and a playoff appearance.
9) Marshall Faulk, 2000
Marshall Faulk might still be the best receiving back in NFL history. He already had an incredible career going into 2000, but he solidified himself as a future Hall of Famer when he won the MVP with the St. Louis Rams, just one season after finishing second in the voting behind teammate Kurt Warner.
Faulk led the league with 26 scrimmage touchdowns, including 18 rushing touchdowns, which also led the NFL. His 5.4 yards per carry were also at the top of the league; he had 1,359 rushing yards in total, and he led all running backs with 81 receptions and 830 receiving yards. His dual-threat ability, especially in his era, was unmatched.
8) Jim Brown, 1958
A legitimate argument could be made that 1958 wasn’t even Jim Brown’s best year, yet he still ranks among the top-ten MVPs of all time. That’s how good he was with the Cleveland Browns.
Brown’s dominance was unparalleled for his era. In 1958, he led the NFL with 1,527 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns. The second-place finishers for those respective categories had 791 yards and 9 touchdowns. He was far and away the best player in the league that season, further proving he was an athlete far ahead of his time.
7) Patrick Mahomes, 2018
Few quarterbacks, if any, have taken the NFL by storm in their first year as a starter as Patrick Mahomes did for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018. A backup to Alex Smith in his rookie year, Mahomes took the reins in Year 2 and put together an MVP season that shocked the world.
Mahomes led the league with a whopping 50 passing touchdowns in 2018, and he placed second with 5,097 passing yards. He also led in adjusted net yards per attempt and placed second in passer rating, yards per completion, and success rate. Plus, his PFSN QB Impact Score of 96.2 remains one of the greatest single-season scores by a quarterback.
6) Lamar Jackson, 2019
Just one year after Mahomes’ incredible MVP year in his first year as a full-time starter, Lamar Jackson did the exact same thing. He went 6-1 as a starter as Joe Flacco’s replacement in 2018, but he had full control over the Baltimore Ravens’ offense in 2019, and the result was arguably the best dual-threat QB season of all time.
Jackson led the NFL with 36 passing touchdowns, he ranked third with a 113.3 passer rating, and he threw for 3,127 yards with a strong 66.1% completion percentage. It’s his rushing ability that truly separated him, though: he broke the single-season QB rushing record with 1,206 yards and led the NFL with a stellar 6.9 yards per carry.
5) LaDainian Tomlinson, 2006
Shaun Alexander broke the NFL record for the most touchdowns scored in a single season in his MVP season in 2005, which earns him an honorable mention for this list. Unfortunately for him, LaDainian Tomlinson broke that record just one year later with the San Diego Chargers.
To this day, Tomlinson holds the single-season record with 28 rushing touchdowns. That record, along with his 31 scrimmage touchdowns, remains the best in NFL history. He also led the league in 2006 with 1,815 rushing yards, finishing with an impressive 5.2 yards per carry on a massive workload of 348 carries.
4) Aaron Rodgers, 2011
When you have four MVPs to your name like Aaron Rodgers does, it can be tough to narrow down which season was the best. In the end, we settled on his 2011 season. After winning the Super Bowl the year before, Rodgers had clearly arrived as one of the best quarterbacks in the game, and he solidified it with his first career MVP win.
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In 15 starts, Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers to a 14-1 record. In addition to his stellar win-loss record, he threw for 4,643 yards, 45 touchdowns, and a 122.5 passer rating that remains the greatest rating in NFL single-season history. His 97.3 QBi Score remains the fourth-highest since the start of the 21st century, too.
3) Dan Marino, 1984
Dan Marino dominating the NFL the way he did for the Miami Dolphins in 1984 speaks to his talent as a passer. Not only did he put together one of the best MVP seasons in league history in Year 2 of his professional career, but he also did so in an era that protected quarterbacks a lot less.
Far and away the best player in 1984, Marino led the league with 48 passing touchdowns, which was 16 more than the second-place finisher. He also finished at the top with 5,084 passing yards, a 108.9 passer rating, 9.0 yards per attempt, and a sack percentage of only 2.25%. Simply put, he blew every other quarterback out of the water that year.
2) Peyton Manning, 2013
At 37 years old and two years removed from a season-ending neck injury, Peyton Manning put together arguably the most historic season by a quarterback in NFL history. The Denver Broncos’ offense was a juggernaut in 2013, and a big part of that was Manning having the best year of his Hall of Fame career.
Over a decade later, Manning still holds the single-season records with 5,477 passing yards and 55 passing touchdowns. He threw for over 300 yards more than the second-place finisher, as well as 16 touchdowns more. Passing numbers were up throughout the NFL in 2013, but Manning’s numbers were still in a different stratosphere.
1) Tom Brady, 2007
As is the case with the likes of Manning and Rodgers, it can be tough to narrow down the best MVP season for a player with multiple awards like Tom Brady. However, with a 98.0 QBi Score that ranks second all-time and being just one of two teams with an undefeated regular-season record, his 2007 campaign ranks above the rest.
Brady held the passing Triple Crown that year, leading the league with a 68.9% completion percentage, 4,806 passing yards, and 50 passing touchdowns. At the time, he was the only player to reach 50 scores in a single season. He also led with a 117.2 passer rating. Add those numbers to the New England Patriots’ 16-0 record, and you have a year for the ages.
Honorable Mentions
- Steve Young, 1994
- Kurt Warner, 1999
- Shaun Alexander, 2005
- Cam Newton, 2015
- Aaron Rodgers, 2020
