Matthew Stafford won the 2025 AP NFL Most Valuable Player award, beating New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye by five points in the closest MVP vote since Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the award in 2003. Stafford received 24 of 50 first-place votes and 366 total points to Maye’s 23 first-place votes and 361 points. Josh Allen collected two first-place votes, and Justin Herbert got one.
The award, announced at NFL Honors in San Francisco, gave the 37-year-old Stafford his first MVP in 17 NFL seasons, making him the oldest player ever to win his first.
Stafford’s Passing Triple Crown Sealed the Vote
Stafford swept the board. His 4,707 passing yards, 46 touchdowns, and 5.8 touchdown-to-interception ratio all led the league. He’s the first quarterback to lead the NFL in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and TD-INT ratio in the same season since Tom Brady in 2007. Brady won MVP that year, too.
Stafford threw just eight interceptions across 17 starts, posting a career-best 109.2 passer rating. He became only the third player in NFL history to throw 45-plus touchdowns with fewer than 10 interceptions, joining Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Every previous player to hit that mark won MVP.
His command of Sean McVay’s offense powered the Rams to the No. 1 scoring offense (30.5 points per game) and No. 1 total offense in the NFL. Puka Nacua and Davante Adams gave Stafford elite weapons, but 26 of his touchdown passes came in the second half or overtime, tied for the most in a single season.
“I think Matthew’s the MVP of the league,” McVay said. “He played that way. There’s nobody I’d rather have be the quarterback of the L.A. Rams than Matthew Stafford.”
Why the Vote Was So Close and What It Means for Stafford’s Legacy
Maye had a legitimate claim. The 23-year-old led the NFL in passer rating (113.5), completion percentage (72.0%), and yards per attempt (8.9) while guiding New England to a 14-3 record, the AFC East title, and a Super Bowl 60 berth. The Patriots hadn’t won the division since 2019.
Stafford’s Rams finished 12-5 as the fifth seed, making him only the third quarterback since the merger to win MVP without winning his division. Los Angeles fell to the Seattle Seahawks 31-27 in the NFC Championship Game.
Three first-place votes going to Allen and Herbert rather than Maye proved decisive. Had even one of those gone to Maye, the race flips.
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For Stafford, the award reshapes a career narrative that looked very different five years ago. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 draft spent 12 years in Detroit without winning a playoff game. Since arriving in Los Angeles in 2021, he’s won Super Bowl LVI, earned his first All-Pro selection (first team, 2025), and now holds an MVP trophy. He’s the 15th quarterback in history with both an MVP and a Super Bowl as a starter. Ten of the other 14 are in the Hall of Fame already.
“I sat in my seat and watched all these Hall-of-Famers come up in front of me,” Stafford said during his acceptance speech. “I have so much respect for the guys that built this game before us and before me.”
He also settled the biggest question facing the Rams this offseason. After contemplating retirement following the NFC Championship loss, Stafford confirmed he’ll return for 2026. “I’ll see you guys next year,” he told the crowd. “Hopefully, I’m not at this event and we’re getting ready for another game at SoFi.” SoFi Stadium hosts the Super Bowl in 2027. Stafford isn’t done chasing hardware.
