The 2025 NFL season is now ten weeks old, and parity has been the prevailing theme of the 106th season of America’s most popular game. Case in point – there are several new front runners for the most coveted individual hardware on the gridiron. That circumstance illustrates just how even pro football is this year, and the following players are the leading men for Most Valuable Player Award.
No fan would ever confuse the New York Giants with a quarterback factory since Eli Manning retired after the 2019 season. Jones and the G-Men did win a playoff game in the wild card round against the Minnesota Vikings in the 2022 season, Jones’s fourth year in the NFL, but New York hasn’t accomplished anything since then.
A resurgent first-round pick from Duke who’s been arguably the best passer in the league this year, Daniel Jones knows how much can change in a year. Six days before Thanksgiving in 2024, the Giants released Jones just 20 months after giving him a lofty contract extension.
Fast forward to March of this year, Jones and the Indianapolis Colts agreed to a one-year, $14 million deal. Originally intended to provide competition for an embattled Anthony Richardson, Jones ended up winning the starting quarterback job. Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen and his new signal caller haven’t looked back since.
Despite it only being Week 10, Jones’ league-leading 2,659 passing yards puts him on the verge of eclipsing his career-high. He’s also on pace to toss 26 touchdown passes, which would also be a career mark.
The Colts’ new field general is averaging 0.15 EPA/dropback, which is better than Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts, and Baker Mayfield. His completion percentage over expected (CPOE, for short) is +5.7 percent, which is second-best in the NFL.
More importantly than anything, Daniel Jones’ new squad is firmly entrenched in first place in the AFC South. They’re also first in total offense and scoring, as well as fifth in offensive DVOA.
To top it all off, the Colts are second in ESPN’s offensive efficiency metric, which measures offensive efficiency on a 0-100 scale. This metric is based on the offense’s contribution to scoring margin on a per-play basis, and it’s adjusted for strength of opposing defenses faced.
One of the NFL’s most storied teams, the Colts are well on their way to their first playoff appearance since 2020. Daniel Jones is one of the primary reasons for that – although he’s not the only reason.
Few NFL teams have had multiple MVP candidates on the same team, much less outright recipients of the award. Fans likely immediately think of the Greatest Show on Turf Rams, which featured Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk. Warner and Faulk took filled their trophy cases quickly in their time together. From 1999-2001, one of them either took home MVP or Offensive Player of the Year.
This is no comparison; after all, Warner and Faulk are Hall of Famers and were the catalyst for the greatest offense in pro football history. The comparisons only serve to highlight the resurgence of Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, who has emboldened his teammate, the aforementioned Daniel Jones.
By just his second NFL campaign in 2021, Taylor won the rushing title and was an All-Pro. From Weeks 4–11 of that year, Taylor compiled 100-plus scrimmage yards and at least one rushing touchdown in eight consecutive games, which tied for the longest streak in NFL history. After accruing those distinctions and gaining 2,980 rushing yards in just two seasons, Taylor, alongside his team, got into a rut. From 2022-2023, the Wisconsin prodigy played in only 21 out of 34 possible games and dealt with several injuries.
Last season was a triumphant return to form for the former rushing champ, who’s once again in the hunt for a second rushing title and his first Offensive Player of the Year Award. Taylor’s 1,139 rushing yards is easily the most in the NFL; he’s 219 yards ahead of the Buffalo Bills’ James Cook III.
Not to be outdone, Jonathan Taylor’s 1,399 scrimmage yards and 17 total touchdowns are also the best in the league. Those totals put him on pace for 2,378 yards from scrimmage and 29 touchdowns.
Should Indianapolis’ bell cow running back meet those gaudy numbers, he’ll pass Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson for the fifth-most scrimmage yards in a season in NFL history. The 29 total touchdowns would surpass former Seattle Seahawks great and 2005 MVP Shaun Alexander for the second-most in a single campaign.
Still not convinced yet? Taylor has +305 rushing yards over expected, which is number one in all of football. He’s also first in rushing yards after contact, broken tackles, and DVOA.
The only knock on the superstar tailback is no fault of his own – it’s history. No non-quarterback has won NFL MVP since Adrian Peterson in 2012. Peterson had torn his ACL the year prior and came within nine yards of breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record. Peterson singlehandedly catapulted a mediocre Minnesota Vikings team into the playoffs that year, and deservedly won MVP.
Other than Peterson, the aforementioned Marshall Faulk, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Shaun Alexander are the only running backs to win MVP since 2000. It’s obvious that, to win MVP as a non-quarterback, a player has to have a truly historic season to even have a chance. One thing is for certain: Jonathan Taylor is giving himself an excellent shot.
A New England Patriots quarterback being an MVP candidate isn’t anything new. What is new, however, is the man who’s in the running.
When Drake Maye was drafted third overall in 2024, the Gillette Stadium hopeful were chomping at the bit to see if they could finally begin a new golden age of post-Tom Brady football. One-and-done coach Jerod Mayo presided over the worst season of this century for the Patriots in 2024, and he was subsequently fired. In came former Tennessee Titans sideline boss and Patriots all-time great linebacker Mike Vrabel.
Vrabel brought back acclaimed offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who has coalesced masterfully with Maye. If the season ended today, Maye would have the seventh-highest completion percentage in a single campaign – and not because he’s Charlie Checkdown. Pro Football Focus credits Maye with 34 passing attempts of 20 or more air yards, and he’s averaging 8.9 yards per pass attempt, second-best in the NFL.
A lot of confabulation arises from the semantics of what “Most Valuable Player” really means; is it the best player in terms of performance, or is it the player who adds the most value t0 his club?
Irrespective of futile linguistics debates, Maye has a case for both sides – and perhaps the best. He’s got a higher passer rating (113.9) than Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Jordan Love, and Patrick Mahomes.
This is all happening despite the fact that Drake Maye has one of the weakest supporting casts in the NFL. His top tandem of pass catchers are an aging Stefon Diggs and 2023 sixth-round selection Kayshon Boutte. After that, there’s Hunter Henry, whose career average of 38 yards per game despite being an early second-round pick is underwhelming.
Maye has done more with less than any other quarterback in football, and he deserves to be the front runner for NFL MVP.
There are three others who deserve to be included in the MVP race – and just like Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor, two of them on the same team. That duo would be Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Seattle Seahawks; Matthew Stafford is the other.
Smith-Njigba is on pace for 1,967 receiving yards, which would just barely break Calvin Johnson’s 2012 record of 1,964 yards. His quarterback is having an equally brilliant year, too.
Matthew Stafford might be playing the best football of his career as well, and the Week 11 matchup against the Seahawks ought to be the most anticipated game of the season.
There’s been ample debate about Stafford’s Hall of Fame candidacy, especially after he won Super Bowl LVI. The 2009 first overall pick also has a Comeback Player of the Year Award under his belt, as well as multiple Pro Bowl nods. Stafford is also currently ninth all-time in career passing yards and touchdowns – and he’s got eight more games to climb up that ladder.
A notable omission from Stafford’s resume is the lack of any MVP votes or All-Pro selections, both of which could – and will – change this year. This Rams team seems like it’s the best of the Sean McVay era. That’s saying a lot for a head coach who’d already been to two Super Bowls and hoisted a Lombardi Trophy by age 36. Los Angeles is top-five in scoring offense and defense, and they’re third in team DVOA.
This year’s MVP race is one of the most compelling in NFL history, and fans have reason to believe it’ll remain that way for the rest of the season.
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