The NFL Most Valuable Player award will be announced at the 14th annual NFL Honors ceremony, which will air live at 9 p.m. on FOX and NFL Network on February 6.
The league’s most coveted award finalists include Josh Allen, Saquon Barkley, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Jared Goff. The Associated Press determined these players through voting, and all ballots have already been cast.
Saquon Barkley and Josh Allen Enjoyed Record-Setting Seasons
The winner will be announced on Feb. 6, 2025, during the NFL Honors Award Show, but the voting deadline is during the regular season. Therefore, any padded stats from the playoffs will not have any impact on the race.
That means the stellar play of two of the five MVP finalist favorites—Josh Allen and Saquon Barkley—in the championship round will not increase their chances of winning.
Allen went 22-of-34 for 237 yards and two touchdowns in a 32-29 loss to Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game. He threw for 3,731 yards and 28 touchdowns in the regular season while posting a completion percentage of 63.6%.
He also had 12 rushing touchdowns, making him the first quarterback in NFL history to have 6+ rushing touchdowns in seven consecutive seasons. The Bills star now has the most wins (76), total touchdowns (262), and total yards (30,595) by any player all-time in their first seven seasons.
Allen also became the first quarterback in NFL history to record a passing, rushing, and receiving touchdown in the same game (Dec. 1, 2024). And he became the first player ever to register five straight 40+ total touchdown seasons. His 262 total career touchdowns surpassed Jim Kelly on the all-time franchise list in Buffalo.
– 2,000 rushing yards
– 3 TD debut
– 176 yards vs. former team
– Backwards hurdle over a man
– 255 yards on SNF
– 205 yards in the snow in the playoffs vs. that same team
– 64-yard TD on opening play of NFC Championship GameWe may never see a season like 2024 Saquon again 🐐 pic.twitter.com/HhexzDERfm
— Eagles Fan Central (@PhilaFanCentral) February 1, 2025
Barkley rushed for 118 yards on 15 carries with three touchdowns in a 55-23 win over Washington in the NFC Championship Game. He capped a remarkable year that almost broke Eric Dickerson’s record for most rushing yards (2,105) in a single season.
The Eagles star finished the regular season with a league-high 2,005 yards on 345 carries, with 15 total touchdowns. Those numbers shattered LeSean McCoy’s franchise record of 1,607 yards for a single season in Philadelphia. He also broke Wilbert Montgomery’s franchise record for most 100-yard games in a season with 11.
Barkley also racked up 2,283 all-scrimmage yards in 2024, which is the 13th-best all-time. He became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. If he gets 30 yards in Super Bowl 59, Barkley will top Terrell Davis’ mark for most rushing yards in a season (regular season and postseason combined).
Explaining the NFL MVP Voting Process
Allen and Barkley have stated their confidence that their performances this season were MVP-worthy. Neither player has yet to win the NFL MVP award, although Jackson has taken the honors home twice.
2x MVP.
Lamar Jackson.
Should be 3x.
pic.twitter.com/BEVXAMKvwU— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 4, 2025
Whereas the Heisman Trophy is voted on by over 1,000 media members and past winners, the NFL MVP is voted on by 50 media members representing a cross-section of America. The Associated Press refers to this group as a “nationwide panel of media.”
Each voter lists their top five players, and players are assigned a certain number of points depending on the position in which they are voted. A first-place vote is worth 10 points, while a second-place vote is worth five. A third-place vote is worth three points, a fourth-place vote is worth two points, and a fifth-place vote is worth one.
This system was implemented after the 2022 season. Before that, voters only chose one player. In 2023, the first year of the new voting system, Jackson won the award with 49 first-place votes.
Jackson and Tom Brady are also the only unanimous MVP winners. In total, 54 offensive players have won the award. Fifty quarterbacks and four running backs have taken home the top prize, with one kicker, Washington’s Mark Moseley, winning it in 1982.