Another NFL regular season has come and gone. It feels like it was only yesterday when the Chiefs and Ravens kicked off the season when they faced each other in the very first NFL game of the 2024 campaign. Despite the feelings of haste and recency, that game was 124 days ago at the time of this writing.
Every single year, the media, fans, and players themselves have 18 weeks and 272 total games league-wide to determine which player should be coronated with the most coveted individual accolade in pro football – the MVP award.
Now that every single one of those weeks and games are done, only one month remains until the Most Valuable Player Award winner is announced. With that, a friendly reminder to all readers that MVP is a regular-season award only and that voting is completed before the playoffs begin.
Without further ado, here are the players most qualified for NFL MVP – beginning with those who just missed the cut.
Stadium Rant has had spectacular NFL coverage all season long and always has. There are a bevy of different opinions within the site about who should win MVP, all of which reflect the fluctuating sentiment of the public.
In respectful contrast to some of the fellow staff writers there, I feel that two particular players just missed the cut for MVP finalist.
Saquon Barkley has had an all-time great season. Not only did he become just the ninth 2,000-yard running back in NFL history, he has also re-introduced bravado and swagger to the complexion of an Eagles team that was downtrodden and lethargic for much of 2023.
Barkley finished with the eighth-most rushing yards in a season, the 13th-most yards from scrimmage in a single season, and finished with 11 games of 100 or more rushing yards. He also defied physics on this play, too.
For all of the gaudy theatrics and historic numbers, though, Barkley has not really made the Eagles’ offense that much better.
In 2023, Philadelphia finished seventh in EPA/play and fourth in rush EPA. This season, the Eagles were sixth in EPA/play but did finish first in rush EPA. They also averaged 5.6 yards per play and 0.416 points per play – 11th and eighth in the NFL, respectively. Last season, Philly ranked 13th and eighth in those same categories.
In no way is this a character assassination or a vilification of Saquon Barkley. He has put together a great season, and one of the best ever at his respective position. At the end of the day, however, he has only improved his squad marginally from a statistical standpoint. It takes more than marginal or hardly noticeable overall contributions to a team to garner MVP consideration.
Joe Burrow has had an all-time resurgent campaign following a season-ending injury only days before Thanksgiving in 2023. He is in a competitive sprint with the best story of the season, Sam Darnold, for Comeback Player of the Year – an accolade that Burrow won in 2021 when he led the Bengals to Super Bowl LVI.
Appropriately monikered as Joey Franchise, the 2020 first overall pick led all NFL quarterbacks in completions (460) yards (4,918), passing touchdowns (43), and finished with a 108.5 passer rating – good for third-best.
Most impressive of all, though, was Burrow’s historic eight-game stretch. During that span, he became the first quarterback in league history to throw for 250 or more yards and three or more touchdown passes in eight consecutive games. Simply unprecedented.
It is worth noting that Burrow’s top receiver – Ja’Marr Chase – finished the regular season with the “receiving triple crown”. That is, he led all pass catchers in receptions (127), yards (1,708), and touchdown catches (17). The receiving triple crown has been won by only four other players in the Super Bowl era – Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharpe, Steve Smith, and Cooper Kupp. That’s pretty good company, to say the least.
Chase’s aforementioned stat totals are all franchise-bests, and his 127 grabs are tied with Stefon Diggs for the ninth-most in a single season overall.
Here’s another fun stat: the Bengals had the NFL’s leading passer, receiver, and pass rusher. Despite all that, the team missed the playoffs, bringing me to my next point.
The notion that a player should not get MVP consideration because his team is not playing for a chance at a Super Bowl is intellectually disingenuous and a relatively lazy argument. Football is a team sport, and a team needs more than three players to have outstanding contributions to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase cannot control the fact that their team had a defense that was ranked 25th in scoring and yards allowed. In terms of EPA/play, Cincy’s stopping unit – which did very little stopping all season – is even worse. The special teams finished just 17th in ESPN’s efficiency ranking, to add insult to injury.
Trey Hendrickson should win Defensive Player of the Year. He had the most sacks and pressures of all defenders and attained a Pro Football Focus positional ranking of eighth. Like his aforementioned teammates, though, he was dragged down by a woeful supporting cast.
No player within this Bengals triumvirate will get much consideration for MVP. At the very least, Burrow and Chase should definitely be considered for Offensive Player of the Year.
When the Ravens hired Todd Monken as their offensive coordinator, they hoped he could take Lamar Jackson to even greater heights. That’s precisely what’s happened.
Jackson has already won two MVPs, having done so in 2019 and 2023. When he won it again last year, it was his first season hearing Monken’s voice in his helmet mic to call plays.
This season, the man they call Action Jackson posted a 119.6 passer rating – the fourth-best ever in an NFL season. Right after Halloween against the Broncos, Jackson had a perfect 158.3 rating.
That’s far from the top of the list. In Week 15, the defending MVP threw five touchdown passes and just four incompletions. In the process, he became the first quarterback to throw for over 250 yards, five passing touchdowns, complete at least 80 percent of his passes, have no interceptions, and rush for over 50 yards.
This season, Jackson also became the first player in NFL history to record over 4,000 passing yards and 900 rushing yards in a season. He also set a new record for the fewest interceptions thrown for a quarterback with over 40 touchdown passes. Lastly, he finished second in EPA/dropback and total EPA among qualified passers. The man ahead of him is the other MVP finalist.
After trading Stefon Diggs to the Texans in April, in addition to the losses of several key defensive players, many believed the Josh Allen and the Bills were due for major regression – and rightfully so.
Entering Week One, Allen’s top receivers were Mack Hollins, Curtis Samuel, and Khalil Shakir. Those three had a combined career total of 497 receptions, 5,846 yards, and 35 touchdown catches in 217 combined games. Keon Coleman is a rookie.
Despite having a lackluster receiving corps at the start of the season, Josh Allen was second among all quarterbacks in EPA/play through Week Six. Right after that, the Bills traded for Amari Cooper.
While an established veteran, Amari Cooper hasn’t done much to bolster Buffalo’s group of pass catchers. In eight games, he notched 20 catches for 297 yards and two touchdown receptions.
Even with the lack of actual production from his receivers, Allen finished first in EPA/play in the regular season, led the Bills to their fifth straight AFC East title, and even became the first quarterback in NFL history to record a passing, rushing, and receiving touchdown in the same game.
All in all, Josh Allen’s basic numbers really won’t blow anyone away. His production is rather pedestrian by contemporary NFL standards. His likely MVP finalist peer, the previously mentioned Lamar Jackson, actually holds a decisive numerical edge.
What Josh Allen has managed to attain this season despite an inferior supporting cast is what has propelled him into the MVP conversation. Both he and his Ravens counterpart have had historic seasons. If it’s a matter of who the better player is, then it’s clearly Jackson.
In terms of value to his team, though, it’s fair to say that Josh Allen outpaces Lamar Jackson. Many fans engage in contentious discourse and semantics lectures about what “Most Valuable Player” actually entails.
There may not be a right or wrong answer. But in the 2024 NFL season, Josh Allen is the Most Valuable Player.
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter here. Check out Stadium Rant Original shows on our Youtube channel and subscribe! Give our socials Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok a follow for more great content!
