AP NFL Most Valuable Player


The AP NFL Most Valuable Player is an annual award presented by the Associated Press to a player in the National Football League adjudged to have been the most valuable in that year's regular season. While there have been many selectors of NFL MVPs in the past, today the MVP award presented by the AP is considered the de facto official NFL MVP award and the most prestigious. Since 2012, the NFL has held the annual NFL Honors ceremony to recognize the winner of each year's AP MVP award, along with other AP awards, such as the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year and AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year. The most recent winner is quarterback Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.
The AP has presented an award recognizing the NFL's top player since 1957. The award is voted upon by a panel of 50 sportswriters at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs, though the results are not announced to the public until the day before the Super Bowl. The sportswriters chosen regularly follow the NFL, and remain mostly consistent from year to year. They are chosen based on expertise and are independent of the league itself. Voters for the award have included Troy Aikman of Fox Sports; Cris Collinsworth and Tony Dungy of NBC Sports; and Herm Edwards of ESPN. Only two players in the history of the award have won it unanimously: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in 2010 and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2019.
Due to voters' tendency to favor offensive positions, the award has been overwhelmingly dominated by offensive players; of the 54 undisputed winners, 54 played an offensive position: 50 quarterbacks and 4 running backs. Two defensive players have won the award: Alan Page in 1971 as a defensive tackle, and Lawrence Taylor as a linebacker in 1986. The sole special teams player to be named AP NFL MVP was Mark Moseley, who won as a placekicker in 1982.
Thirteen awardees also won the Super Bowl in the same season. However, this did not occur from 1997 to 2021. During that span, nine AP NFL MVPs have led their team to the Super Bowl and were defeated each time. This has led to tongue-in-cheek claims in recent years that there is a "curse" preventing the awardee's team from winning the Super Bowl.
Six NFL franchises have not produced an MVP, the New York Jets, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago/St. Louis/Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Green Bay Packers have the most overall winners with ten; if including disputed awards, the Colts would be tied with ten. The Green Bay Packers also have the most unique winners with five players winning the award.

Discrepancies

The AP has presented an award recognizing the NFL's top player since the 1957 season, although the pre-1961 awardees are recognized in the Official NFL Record and Fact Book as winning the AP's "NFL Most Outstanding Player" award, and the 1962 winner was recognized as the AP's "Player of the Year". The AP considers 1961 to be the first year in which it presented a "Most Valuable Player" award. Thus there are numerous inconsistencies among sources regarding each of the first four awards, and whether or not the winners are included in the overall list of AP MVP winners at all. The discrepancies include 1958's winner being either Jim Brown or Gino Marchetti; the 1959 winner as Johnny Unitas or Charlie Conerly; and whether or not Norm Van Brocklin shared the award in 1960 with Joe Schmidt.

MVP Super Bowl curse

In recent years, if a player that won the MVP makes it to the Super Bowl, the MVP often loses the Super Bowl in the year they won the MVP. That includes, Kurt Warner in 2001, Rich Gannon in 2002, Shaun Alexander in 2005, Tom Brady in 2007, Peyton Manning in 2009 and 2013, Cam Newton in 2015, Matt Ryan in 2016, and Tom Brady in 2017.
Eleven players have won the Super Bowl and MVP in the same season: Bart Starr in 1966, Terry Bradshaw in 1978, Mark Moseley in 1982, Lawrence Taylor in 1986, Joe Montana in 1989, Emmitt Smith in 1993, Steve Young in 1994, Brett Favre in 1996, Terrell Davis in 1998, Kurt Warner in 1999, and Patrick Mahomes in 2022. In these eleven cases, all but four regular season MVP winners were also the Super Bowl MVP for their respective games - with Moseley, Taylor, Favre and Davis not completing the duplicate MVP year. From Warner's MVP and Super Bowl win in the same year in 1999, no NFL MVP would become a Super Bowl champion in the same year for 23 years until 2022, when Patrick Mahomes broke the MVP Super Bowl curse at Super Bowl LVII.

Winners

SeasonPlayerPositionTeamVotes
1957Running backCleveland Browns14 of 36
1958 Running backCleveland Browns22 of 41
1959QuarterbackBaltimore Colts20 of 37
1960QuarterbackPhiladelphia EaglesNot released
1961Running backGreen Bay PackersNot released
1962Running backGreen Bay Packers19 of 40
1963QuarterbackNew York Giants33 of 40
1964 QuarterbackBaltimore Colts32 of 40
1965 Running backCleveland Browns34 of 42
1966QuarterbackGreen Bay Packers19 of 40
1967 QuarterbackBaltimore Colts40 of 47
1968QuarterbackBaltimore Colts33 of 46
1969QuarterbackLos Angeles Rams of 48
1970QuarterbackSan Francisco 49ers33 of 78
1971Defensive tackleMinnesota Vikings16 of 60
1972Running backWashington Redskins45 of 75
1973Running backBuffalo Bills74 of 78
1974QuarterbackOakland Raiders36 of 78
1975QuarterbackMinnesota VikingsNot released
1976QuarterbackBaltimore Colts41 of 84
1977Running backChicago Bears57 of 84
1978QuarterbackPittsburgh Steelers36 of 84
1979Running backHouston Oilers34 of 84
1980QuarterbackCleveland Browns47 of 84
1981QuarterbackCincinnati Bengals46 of 84
1982PlacekickerWashington Redskins35 of 84
1983QuarterbackWashington Redskins58 of 84
1984QuarterbackMiami Dolphins52 of 84
1985Running backLos Angeles Raiders33 of 84
1986LinebackerNew York Giants41 of 84
1987QuarterbackDenver Broncos36 of 84
1988QuarterbackCincinnati Bengals31 of 78
1989QuarterbackSan Francisco 49ers62 of 70
1990 QuarterbackSan Francisco 49ers26 of 80
1991Running backBuffalo Bills39 of 82
1992QuarterbackSan Francisco 49ers56 of 80
1993Running backDallas Cowboys26 of 81
1994 QuarterbackSan Francisco 49ers74 of 98
1995QuarterbackGreen Bay Packers69 of 88
1996 QuarterbackGreen Bay Packers52 of 93
1997
Quarterback
Running back		Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions		18 of 48
1998Running backDenver Broncos25 of 47
1999QuarterbackSt. Louis Rams33 of 50
2000Running backSt. Louis Rams24 of 50
2001 QuarterbackSt. Louis Rams of 50
2002QuarterbackOakland Raiders19 of 48
2003
QuarterbackIndianapolis Colts
Tennessee Titans		16 of 50
2004 QuarterbackIndianapolis Colts47 of 48
2005Running backSeattle Seahawks19 of 50
2006Running backSan Diego Chargers44 of 50
2007QuarterbackNew England Patriots49 of 50
2008 QuarterbackIndianapolis Colts32 of 50
2009 QuarterbackIndianapolis Colts of 50
2010 QuarterbackNew England Patriots50 of 50
2011QuarterbackGreen Bay Packers48 of 50
2012Running backMinnesota Vikings of 50
2013 QuarterbackDenver Broncos49 of 50
2014 QuarterbackGreen Bay Packers31 of 50
2015QuarterbackCarolina Panthers48 of 50
2016QuarterbackAtlanta Falcons25 of 50
2017 QuarterbackNew England Patriots40 of 50
2018QuarterbackKansas City Chiefs41 of 50
2019QuarterbackBaltimore Ravens50 of 50
2020 QuarterbackGreen Bay Packers44 of 50
2021 QuarterbackGreen Bay Packers39 of 50
2022 QuarterbackKansas City Chiefs48 of 50
2023 QuarterbackBaltimore Ravens49 of 50
2024QuarterbackBuffalo Bills27 of 49