NFL MVP: Why Matthew Stafford should win award over Drake Maye
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Detroit Lions, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. Credit: AP/Katie Chin
This probably isn’t a strong barometer for greatness, considering the competition, but in three games against the Jets (two) and Giants this season, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye completed 68 of 87 passes for 819 yards and eight touchdowns without an interception and his team scored 102 points (although a few of those came after he took a seat in lopsided wins). He was the best player New York football faced this season, and if there were an award for playing against one geographic area, he would win that here.
But the league’s MVP is different. It encompasses more. It isn’t based solely on stats but on feel and perception and other sometimes indescribable elements.
At age 37 — 14 years older than Maye — quarterback Matthew Stafford has put together one of the best seasons of his illustrious career. Despite a setback performance on Monday night against the Falcons, he could be in position to lead the Rams to a second Super Bowl title, which would catapult him into the conversation of first-ballot Hall of Famer.
But despite all he has accomplished in 16 previous seasons, including three Pro Bowls, three years with at least 40 touchdown passes (including this one) and 10 years with at least 4,000 passing yards (including this one) that has him sitting sixth in NFL history in that category, Stafford has never won an MVP award.
It’s his time.
It’s not as if he doesn’t have the raw numbers to back it up. He leads the NFL with 42 touchdown passes. He is second in passing yards with 4,448, and depending on how much league leader Dak Prescott (4,482) plays against the Giants on Sunday, Stafford could creep past him. And he has done all that while throwing only eight interceptions (three of them on Monday night).
Maye leads the league’s regular starters in passer rating (112.9) and completion percentage (.717), and his Patriots still could wind up with the top seed in the AFC. But there also is something to be said about the competition Stafford played against (zero games against the Giants and Jets, for example) compared with Maye, which puts him inches ahead in this estimation.
Stafford has thrown 20 touchdown passes against teams with at least 11 wins this season, the most in NFL history. Maye? He has zero.
Still, Maye is having a spectacular year. He will win an MVP, maybe even a few, before he’s done. He is the key to one of the great turnarounds in NFL history as the Patriots, winners of a combined eight games in the previous two seasons, already have won 13 this year. And he’ll probably keep feasting on New York opponents for a while, too. But this year, Stafford is the Most Valuable Player.
Stafford often gets overlooked. It’s been said that Joe Burrow gets more credit for losing Super Bowl LVI four years ago than Stafford does for winning it, and that’s probably true.
That kind of treatment ends now. This time, credit is due.
Preseason pick: Lamar Jackson, Ravens
Midseason: Baker Mayfield, Bucs
COACH OF THE YEAR
Mike Vrabel, Patriots
It’s hard to remember a season with this many worthy candidates for the award. What Liam Coen has done in Jacksonville has been terrific. Mike Macdonald has quietly turned Seattle (and former Jets draft pick Sam Darnold) into a Super Bowl favorite. Bears coach Ben Johnson has flourished, a statement that not every recent Lions coordinator can make, as we know all too well. And many of the usual suspects — Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, even Sean Payton — have their teams contending for the title.
The way Mike Vrabel has brought the Patriots back to prominence — and pretty close to dominance — has been remarkable in both its speed and spectrum. Two years after getting dumped by the Titans and a year after spending a season as an adviser with the Browns, Vrabel has rescued the franchise he once helped lead to glory as a linebacker with a style and personality that is so very different from his former coach and measuring stick . . . yet rivals Bill Belichick in results.
Vrabel was the CHC (Candidate of the Hiring Cycle) last January when he was interviewing for job openings, including the Jets, and a little less than 12 months later, he should wind up as the COY (Coach of the Year).
Preseason: Dan Quinn, Commanders
Midseason: Shane Steichen, Colts
OFFENSIVE PLAYER
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seahawks
The most impressive part of Smith-Njigba’s league-leading 1,709 receiving yards is that he is doing it for a Seattle team that throws the ball only about half the time (50.63%), a ratio that ranks 30th in the league. Only Buffalo and Baltimore — teams with two of the three leading rushers in the NFL, not to mention two of the most aggressive running quarterbacks — throw it less often than the Seahawks do.
Smith-Njigba accounts for a whopping 30.5% of the Seahawks’ offensive yardage and 44.2% of their passing yards, the latter of which should give him the highest single-season portion since Brandon Marshall had 45.7% with the Bears in 2012. Others have had solid years — James Cook leads the league in rushing yards and Jonathan Taylor in rushing touchdowns, and averaging 118.4 rushing yards since Thanksgiving has given Bijan Robinson a late push — but the third-year receiver deserves the accolade because of what Seattle has accomplished and his unique role in getting them there.
Preseason: Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals
Midseason: Jonathan Taylor, Colts
DEFENSIVE PLAYER
Myles Garrett, Browns
Garrett still is a half-sack shy of tying the single-season record (22.5) and a full one away from becoming the new king, so after recording just a (generous) half-sack in the past two games, the pressure will be on him to do that Sunday against the Bengals. The pressure to win a second Defensive Player of the Year award in three seasons, though? That’s practically nonexistent. Garrett should be the runaway honoree in the only category that isn’t jam-packed with candidates.
It would have been interesting to see what Micah Parsons could have done had he not gotten injured, and Brian Burns’ career season might have put him in the conversation in any other recent season, but watching Garrett dominate for a team that has only four wins and affords him very few leads with pure pass-rushing opportunities has been special.
Preseason: Aidan Hutchinson, Lions
Midseason: Micah Parsons, Packers
OFFENSIVE ROOKIE
Tetairoa McMillan, Panthers
There has been some impressive quarterback play throughout this season between Jaxson Dart, Shedeur Sanders and, of late, Tyler Shough. But it’s the rookies who have caught the passes rather than thrown them who have really stood out. For the first half of the season, that was Colts tight end Tyler Warren, but that production waned after he lost Daniel Jones. McMillan has been the most consistent rookie receiver all season. Entering Saturday’s finale, McMillan had 66 catches for 929 yards and seven touchdowns. That left him within striking distance of some Carolina rookie records: Christian McCaffrey’s 80 catches and the 1,088 yards and nine TD catches by Kelvin Benjamin. More impressive is that unlike many rookie receivers who benefit from proven quarterbacks, McMillan has become a big reason for Bryce Young’s ascent.
Preseason: Omarion Hampton, Chargers
Midseason: Tyler Warren, Colts
DEFENSIVE ROOKIE
Carson Schwesinger, Browns
The great irony here is that we picked Abdul Carter in the preseason and stuck with him at midseason despite paltry numbers, and now — despite finally becoming something closer to the dominant player the Giants envisioned when they picked him third overall — he gets bumped from the top. Had Carter played consistently all season, he would have run away with the award.
Instead we’ll go with Schwesinger, who has emerged as one of the league’s top off-ball linebackers. Putting up the kinds of numbers that DeMeco Ryans, Shaquille Leonard and Luke Kuechly did as rookies, Schwesinger (159 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions and 13 tackles for a loss) has the potential to become the game’s next great inside linebacker on the heels of Bobby Wagner and Fred Warner. That he plays the position Carter did for most of his college career? We’ll add that to the irony, too.
Preseason: Abdul Carter, Giants
Midseason: Abdul Carter, Giants
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
