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Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford took home the 2025 NFL MVP award in one of the tightest races the league’s ever seen – edging out New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye by just five points. When the full voting breakdown came out, though, everyone had questions about something else entirely.
Stafford finished with 366 points to Maye’s 361 points. Josh Allen landed in third, Christian McCaffrey in fourth, and Trevor Lawrence rounded out the top five.
The real head-scratcher? Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert got a first-place vote.
AP NFL MVP
1. Matthew Stafford 366 points, 24 first-place votes
2. Drake Maye 361, 23
3. Josh Allen 91, 2
4. Christian McCaffrey 71, 0
5. Trevor Lawrence 49, 0
Justin Herbert got the other first-place vote.— Rob Maaddi (@RobMaaddi) February 6, 2026
Stafford collected 24 first-place votes, while Maye grabbed 23 and Allen picked up two. Herbert’s stats were respectable enough — he threw for 3,723 yards with 26 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. He also added 498 rushing yards and two more scores on the ground.
Those numbers don’t exactly scream MVP, though.
The Voter Steps Forward
Sam Monson, who used to work at Pro Football Focus and now co-hosts the Check the Mic podcast with Steve Palazzolo, revealed he was behind the Herbert vote. His reasoning centered entirely on supporting cast — or the lack of one.
“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.”
Monson went further, pointing to Stafford’s performance when his protection broke down. “Stafford’s OL became 2/5ths as bad as Herbert’s for 5 minutes and he became a turnover howitzer,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “He embodied ‘value’.”
The argument didn’t land well with everyone.
Mike Renner of CBS Sports pushed back pretty hard. “Sam says Stafford couldn’t do what Herbert did behind that OL. That may be true,” Renner posted. “But where is the evidence that Herbert could have done what Stafford or Maye did in their situations?”
Renner backed it up with numbers too. Herbert averaged just 7.5 yards per attempt with a 104.6 passer rating when he wasn’t under pressure this season — lower than both Stafford’s and Maye’s season totals for those metrics.
The Chargers’ offensive line was genuinely terrible all year, no question about it. Herbert dealt with constant pressure and had virtually no time to work in the pocket for most of the season.
Making the leap from “Herbert played well despite bad circumstances” to “Herbert deserves the MVP award” is where things get tricky. Acknowledging what he accomplished behind that offensive line makes sense; giving him a first-place vote over Stafford and Maye doesn’t quite add up.
