Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award information
Highest accolade for an individual NFL player in the regular season
AP NFL MVP Award
Lamar Jackson is the most recent recipient.
Awarded for
Most valuable player in the National Football League
Presented by
Associated Press
History
First award
1957
Most wins
Peyton Manning (5)
Most recent
Lamar Jackson (2)
Peyton Manning won the award a record five times.
The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award is presented annually by the Associated Press (AP) to a player in the National Football League (NFL) deemed to have been the "most valuable" in that year's regular season. While there have been many selectors of NFL MVPs in the past, today the MVP award presented by the AP is considered the de facto official NFL MVP award and the most prestigious.[1][2] Since 2011, the NFL has held the annual NFL Honors ceremony to recognize the winner of each year's AP MVP award, along with other AP awards, such as the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year and AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year.[3] The most recent AP NFL MVP is quarterback Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens.[4]
The AP has presented an award recognizing the NFL's top player since 1957. The award is voted upon by a panel of 50 sportswriters at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs, though the results are not announced to the public until the day before the Super Bowl. The sportswriters chosen regularly follow the NFL, and remain mostly consistent from year to year. They are chosen based on expertise and are independent of the league itself.[5] Voters for the award have included Troy Aikman of Fox Sports; Cris Collinsworth and Tony Dungy of NBC Sports; and Herm Edwards of ESPN.[5] Only two players in the history of the award have won it unanimously: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in 2010 and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2019.[6]
Due to voters' tendency to favor offensive positions (mostly the quarterback and sometimes the running back),[7][8][9][10] the award has been overwhelmingly dominated by offensive players; of the 57 undisputed winners, 54 played an offensive position: 38 quarterbacks and 16 running backs. Two defensive players have won the award: Alan Page in 1971 as a defensive tackle, and Lawrence Taylor as a linebacker in 1986. The sole special teams player to be named AP NFL MVP was Mark Moseley, who won as a placekicker in 1982.[11]
Thirteen awardees also won the Super Bowl (or NFL Championship Game prior to 1966) in the same season. However, this did not occur from 2000 to 2022. During that span, nine AP NFL MVPs have led their team to the Super Bowl and were defeated each time.[12] This has led to tongue-in-cheek claims in recent years that there is a "curse" preventing the awardee's team from winning the Super Bowl.[13][14]
Six NFL franchises have not produced an MVP, the New York Jets (not counting Joe Namath's two AFL MVPs), Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Green Bay Packers have the most overall winners with ten; if including disputed awards (see below), the Colts would be tied with ten. The Green Bay Packers also have the most unique winners with five players winning the award.
^Bieler, Des (January 20, 2016). "Pro Football Writers name Cam Newton their NFL MVP". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 22, 2016. The AP NFL awards, which essentially serve as the official league honors...
^Thomas, Jim (January 10, 2002). "Warner is in hunt for another NFL honor". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 20. Retrieved February 2, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. The Associated Press MVP award is the most prestigious, but it's only Round 1 when it comes to NFL player-of-the-year awards.
^"First-ever 'NFL Honors' show will be hosted by Baldwin in Indy". NFL.com. National Football League. January 3, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
^"Tom Brady Wins His Third M.V.P. Award". The New York Times. Associated Press. February 3, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
^ abCite error: The named reference Insight was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Jamison, Hensley (February 2020). "Ravens QB Lamar Jackson unanimous pick for NFL MVP after historic season". ESPN. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
^"NFL MVP Award is Flawed: How Quarterbacks and Running Backs Blind Voters". Bleacher Report.
^Mays, Robert (December 12, 2014). "How Hard Is It for a Defensive Player to Win NFL MVP? Just Ask These Guys". Grantland. ESPN. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^Greenberg, Micah (December 21, 2016). "Forget the MVP, Award Position Groups". Fox Sports. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
^Cite error: The named reference official was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Campbell, Dave (February 5, 2018). "Brady takes his 3rd Super Bowl loss, despite 500-yard game". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
^Breech, John (February 2, 2017). "Tom Brady, Matt Ryan beware: NFL MVP is in the middle of an ugly Super Bowl drought". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
^Joyner, KC (January 28, 2016). "Why Cam Newton should worry about MVP curse in Super Bowl 50". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
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