There is a hotly contested debate for the NFL MVP this season. Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and New England Patriots QB Drake Maye both have strong cases to be made for the honor.
And on Thursday, ahead of Stafford and Maye playing two tough defenses for a bid to the Super Bowl, the NFL announced the finalists for the top awards from this season.
Both Maye and Stafford were MVP finalists, but the NFL's announcement for the OPOY finalists might hint at who is winning the NFL MVP this season, and for Rams fans, it's some good news.
NFL might've hinted at MVP award winner with OPOY finalists
For starters, Maye, Stafford, Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen, Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence, and San Francisco 49ers' Christian McCaffrey were listed as NFL MVP finalists this season.
But the Offensive Player of the Year has a different pool of players. McCaffrey is a finalist, but so are Atlanta Falcons' Bijan Robinson, Seattle Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rams' Puka Nacua, and most importantly, Drake Maye.
The two MVP frontrunners are Maye and Stafford, but only one is a finalist for the Offensive Player of the Year Award this season.
While all five of these players are deserving of the award, considering Maye is one of the two MVP favorites, it would be reasonable to suspect that he would earn the award since the other MVP favorite, Stafford, is not an OPOY finalist.
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These finalists hint at the NFL awarding Stafford MVP, and Maye the Offensive Player of the Year. Whichever QB, whether it's Stafford or Maye, isn't named MVP, they will feel like they were snubbed.
Instead of letting one of the QBs left without any awards for their stellar season, it wouldn't be hard to see the non-MVP get a different award, which, in this possible scenario, could be Maye winning the Offensive Player of the Year award.
Maye could still win MVP, and Stafford could get snubbed from the entire NFL award show this season.
But, with these voters being the same for the Associated Press that named Stafford First-Team All-Pro, and Maye Second-Team All-Pro, it's hard to ignore the signs that point to Stafford securing his first MVP award for his incredible 2025 season.
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