Matthew Stafford’s career resume is looking rather complete now with the Pro Football Hall of Fame the last box to inevitably check.
The Rams quarterback was named Associated Press NFL MVP on Thursday night at the NFL Honors show, winning the award for the first time at age 37 after his 17th season in the league.
Stafford is the oldest first-time MVP in NFL history and the third-oldest MVP winner overall behind Tom Brady at age 40 in 2017 and Aaron Rodgers at 38 in 2021.
Stafford received 24 of 50 first-place votes and finished with 366 points overall in the voting, while New England Patriots QB Drake Maye received 23 first-place votes and 361 points, making it the closest vote since Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the award in 2003.
A loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the AFC championship game spoiled the ending for Stafford, who nonetheless threw for 374 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in that game, but it was indeed a career year in other ways.
He led the league in passing and touchdowns for the first time, with 4,707 yards (the fourth-highest total of his career) and a career-high 46 passing TDs, which was 12 more than any other player, with just 8 interceptions. The former No. 1 overall pick from the 2009 NFL Draft adds those feats and the MVP to a resume that already includes a Super Bowl championship (for the 2021 season with the Rams), NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award (2011 with the Detroit Lions) and his first AP First-Team All-Pro selection this season as well.
Stafford now ranks sixth all-time in career passing yards (65,516) and seventh in TD passes (473), and he confirmed Thursday that he will return to the Rams in 2026. As he thanked his four daughters on stage for their support of his career, he added, “I can’t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we’re out there kicking ass. So I’ll see you guys next year. Hopefully I’m not at this event and we’re getting ready for another game in SoFi.”
So did the voters get it right? Let’s dive deeper into the MVP debate and the other awards handed out Thursday night at NFL Honors.
Matthew Stafford Deserved the MVP
Yes, the voters got this one correct, though it would have been impossible to actually argue against the case for Maye as well.
Remember, the voting by the 50-person panel — made up of NFL media, Pro Football Hall-of-Famers Tony Dungy and Kurt Warner and 2022 MVP Rich Gannon — is concluded before the start of the playoffs, so Maye leading the Patriots all the way to the Super Bowl in just his second season had no bearing on the regular-season MVP honor.
Maye led the NFL in completion percentage (72%), passer rating (113.5), adjusted QBR (77.1), total offense (4,844 yards, including his 450 rushing yards) and yards per pass attempt (8.9), while finishing fourth in passing yards (4,394) and third in passing touchdowns (31). He also threw just 8 picks and added 4 rushing TDs.
The case for Maye is that his jump in performance and production from his rookie season helped New England go from 4-13 to 14-3 and an AFC East title, he was the most accurate and efficient quarterback in the league, he had just 313 fewer passing yards than Stafford despite 105 fewer pass attempts, and he did that with a lesser supporting cast of playmakers and behind an improved but still growing offensive line that started two rookies and contributed to him getting sacked 47 times (fourth-most in the league)
Like we said, we really couldn’t put up much of an argument if Maye won the vote.
Stafford Proved His Impact In Year 17
But it would have been hard to vote against Stafford. Whether it should or not, narrative comes into play in such awards and for the one of the NFL’s all-time leading passers and most respected veterans to earn his first MVP in what may be his last best chance at 37 years old, well, that’s pretty compelling. Especially considering this season started with serious concerns about his readiness to play after missing almost a month of training camp tending to an aggravated disc in his back.
And, after all, he did lead the league in passing yards and touchdowns for a Rams offense that also led the NFL in scoring (30.5 points per game) and total offense (394.6 yards per game).
Hey, it’s not his fault he has Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to target.
No, it’s not a career achievement award, but it feels right for Stafford to fill what was the only void on his Hall-of-Fame caliber resume.
Buffalo Bills QB and 2024 MVP Josh Allen got two first-place votes and finished third overall in the MVP race, while Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert got the other first-place vote even though San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey and Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence finished fourth and fifth in the voting overall.
Mike Vrabel A Worthy NFL Coach Of The Year Winner
New England’s Mike Vrabel beat out a loaded field of finalists for AP NFL Coach of the Year, winning the award in his first season with the Patriots and for the second time in his career (also in 2021 with the Tennessee Titans).
Vrabel received 19 first-place votes (302 points) to beat out Jaguars’ first-year coach Liam Coen (16 first-place votes, 239 points), Seattle second-year coach Mike Macdonald (8, 191), Chicago first-year coach Ben Johnson (1, 145) and San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan (6, 140).
Vrabel took over a franchise coming off three straight losing seasons and back-to-back 4-13 finishes and led the Patriots to a 14-3 mark and its first AFC title since 2019. New England won 13 of its final 14 games and has since added three playoff wins to that tally to get to the Super Bowl this week, where Vrabel has a chance to make history as the first person to ever win a Super Bowl as a player and head coach for the same franchise.
Vrabel is the seventh coach to win the honor with two different teams.
Ultimately, it was the right call, albeit a tough one what in of the most loaded coach of the year candidate pools.
Coen improved the Jaguars from 4-13 to 13-4 in his first season as a head coach period and revived former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence’s career.
Johnson took the Bears from 5-12 to 11-6 in his first year as an NFL head coach, delivering Chicago its first winning season since 2018 and just second overall in 13 seasons while helping elevate his QB and former No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams to a breakout second season.
Macdonald may have the best team in the league — the Seahawks are 4.5-point favorites over the Patriots in the Super Bowl — but it’s a regular-season award and he’d already gotten Seattle to 10 wins in his first year. And Shanahan did a noble job keeping the 12-5 49ers more than just afloat amidst unrelenting injury setbacks.
But few thought Vrabel could so quickly and swiftly fix the abundant flaws that had the Patriots looking like one of the absolute worst teams in the league last year. New England was set as an 80-1 preseason longshot to win the Super Bowl, yet tied for the best regular-season record in the NFL before continuing its run all the way to the Big Game this week. The Pats also ranked second in scoring (28.8 PPG) — after finishing 30th last year (17.0 PPG) — and fourth in scoring defense (18.8 PPG).
Myles Garrett An Obvious Pick For Defensive Player Of The Year
When a hallowed record like the single-season sacks mark gets broken, it’s a safe bet that player is going to win AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
And like Michael Strahan in 2021 and T.J. Watt in 2021, that’s exactly how it played out for Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett as he won the award for the second time in three years after setting the record with 23 sacks this season to pass Strahan’s and Watt’s shared mark of 22.5.
Garrett received all 50 first-place votes to become just the second player along with J.J. Watt to unanimously win the award and the ninth player to win the award multiple times.
Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. finished second with 77 points, Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons was third (63), Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto came in fourth (52) and Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson round out the top 5 (42).
While it was obvious Garrett was going to win, there could have been a case for it being at least somewhat of a closer race with the Texans’ Will Anderson, who was the tone-setter and best player on the league’s best defense during the regular season with 54 tackles, 12 sacks, 20 tackles for loss, 23 QB hits, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and 3 deflected passes.
Offensive Player Of The Year An Appropriate Honor for Jaxon Smith-Njigba
With the NFL MVP award almost always going to an offensive player and usually a quarterback, the AP Offensive Player of the Year Award is usually the way to spotlight the best non-QB on that side of that ball.
Seattle Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a fine choice after leading the league with 1,793 receiving yards on 119 catches (fourth-most) and 10 TDs (tied for sixth).
Again, this is a regular-season award, so the Seahawks’ Super Bowl run — and his 10 catches for 153 yards and a TD in the NFC championship game win over the Rams — doesn’t factor in.
But considering the Seahawks earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC and he was the biggest difference-maker on the offensive side, we’re good with the choice.
We also would have been OK, though, if Rams WR Puka Nacua or the 49ers’ do-it-all RB Christian McCaffrey got the award.
Nacua played one fewer game than Smith-Njigba due to injury but led the NFL with 129 catches, finished a close second with 1,715 yards and also had 10 TDs for the best offense in the league, but ironically having the NFL MVP on his team hurt him in the voting for this award despite his part in that. In terms of pure impact, though, Nacua is right at the top.
McCaffrey, meanwhile, did it all for a 49ers offense that couldn’t stay healthy at any other skill position. He led the team with 1,202 rushing yards and also 102 receptions for 924 yards with 17 total TDs. He got his spotlight by winning comeback player of the year.
Along with coach of the year, this was the toughest category.
Smith-Njigba got 14 first-place votes (272 points), followed by McCaffrey (12, 233) while Nacua got 8 first-place votes, Falcons RB Bijan Robinson 6 and Maye 5.
Tetairoa McMillan Dominates Offensive Rookie Of The Year Voting
Carolina Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan garnered an overwhelming 41 of the 50 first-place votes (445 points) for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year after finishing with 70 catches for 1,014 yards and 7 TDs.
Saints QB Tyler Shough (5 first-place votes, 168 points), Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson (1, 111), Giants QB Jaxson Dart (1, 88) and Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka (0, 66) rounded out the top 5 while Seattle OL Grey Zabel got 2 first-place votes.
The voting should have at least been a lot closer here, and if Henderson could have strung a just a couple more big games together, it was his to win. He put up 911 rushing yards, 221 receiving yards and 10 total TDs, but he had just two 100-yard games and all his touchdowns came in four games — four really impressive games.
He might still have gotten our vote. After a slow start to the season without much opportunity, Henderson reached at least 75 total yards in eight of his final 10 games.
McMillan had two 100-yard games and two multi-TD games while being a featured weapon all season, but he was held under 50 yards in eight games (including four of the final six) and to 3 catches or less in seven games.
But make no mistake, both players have big careers ahead and validated being high draft picks.
Carson Schwesinger Wins Defensive Rookie of the Year
It wasn’t any closer of a vote for AP Defensive Player of the Year, with Cleveland Browns LB Carson Schwesinger getting 40 first-place votes to easily win the award over Seahawks DB Nick Emmanwori (7), Falcons EDGE James Pearce Jr. (2) and Falcons S Xavier Watts (1).
No qualms here.
Schwesinger went from walk-on at UCLA to All-Big Ten and AP First-Team All-America to 33rd overall pick in the draft and backed that all up with 156 tackles to rank sixth in the NFL, 11 TFLs, 2.5 sacks and 2 interceptions.
More Well-Deserved NFL Honors
NFL Comeback Player of the Year: San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey
Assistant Coach of the Year: New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels
Walter Payton Man of the Year: Washington Commanders LB Bobby Wagner
Protector of the Year: Chicago Bears G Joe Thuney
