Matthew Stafford piped Drake Maye to the 2025 MVP Award. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback beat his New England Patriots counterpart by one first-place vote.
Sam Monson of the 33rd Team voted for Justin Herbert rather than Maye or Stafford. The veteran analyst took to X to explain his reasoning for snubbing the two favorites in his first-place vote. Monson received significant backlash for his choice.
“I was the Justin Herbert vote. The guy had the worst offensive line in the NFL all season, and despite that, he was working miracles in almost every single game. Stafford’s OL became 2/5ths as bad as Herbert’s for 5 minutes, and he became a turnover howitzer. He embodied ‘value’.
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“MVP is the single hardest award to ‘correctly’ determine, because the focus is on ‘value’, which is basically impossible to objectively evaluate with so many dependencies.
“There was not one clear MVP who was robbed of the award. Most people were torn between 2 deserving candidates. I thought a third deserved it as well, given the immense value he brought to his situation.
“It’s actively NOT just the best player, though, and that’s the issue. Like it or not, and I don’t like it, value is an intrinsic part of the award. It is THE focus of the award, and there is no consensus definition or quantification of that.”
Matthew Stafford won the MVP award. He led the league in passing yards and touchdowns and was instrumental in his Los Angeles Rams reaching the playoffs.
Drake Maye was just as influential. He led the league in QBR and was a key contributor to the New England Patriots’ end of their playoff drought.
Justin Herbert had a solid campaign with the Los Angeles Chargers. He racked up a stat line of 3,727 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, guiding his team to the playoffs.
Here’s the Top 5 in the 2025 MVP voting:
- Matthew Stafford: 24 first-place votes
- Drake Maye: 23 first-place votes
- Josh Allen: 2 first-place votes
- Christian McCaffrey: 0 first-place votes
- Trevor Lawrence: 0 first-place votes
(Herbert received the remaining first-place vote but didn’t finish in the top five.)
Drake Maye is gearing up for Super Bowl LX
Drake Maye finished as the first runner-up in MVP voting in his second season. It’s an impressive achievement for the North Carolina Tar Heels product, considering the situation that he entered as a rookie in New England.
With the MVP race done and dusted, Maye must now focus on the biggest game of his career. The New England Patriots are up against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.
The Seahawks enter the game as favorites but Maye and Co. will fancy their chances. It’s a matchup that could come down to the finer details and who wants it more.
With that being said, here’s how to watch the big game:
- Date: Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026
- Time: 6:30 p.m. ET.
- Venue: Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California
- Livestream: FuboTV and DAZN
- TV Channel: NBC