Fifty voters decide the NFL MVP. A nationwide panel of 50 sports journalists chosen by the Associated Press ranks five players on each ballot before the playoffs begin, and the winner lifts the award at NFL Honors during Super Bowl week. No playoff snap can change a ballot.
The most recent vote showed the system's taste. Matthew Stafford won the award for the 2025 season after leading the league with 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdown passes, and the runner-up, Drake Maye, played quarterback too, which is the position the prize keeps rewarding.
The NFL MVP ballot, step by step
Since 2022, each of the 50 voters ranks a top five, and points pay out 10 for first place, 5 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth. The weighting makes a first-place vote precious and a broad consensus nearly impossible to overturn late.
The panel is not only writers. Broadcasters such as Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth and Tony Dungy have held ballots, which pulls the vote toward the names mass audiences watch every week.
The same panel does more than the MVP. Those voters also select first-team and second-team All-Pro spots, per the Associated Press, which keeps the same fifty sets of eyes on every position all season.
Timing, and why it matters
Ballots come due before the postseason starts, which keeps the NFL MVP a regular-season award, and the reveal waits for the NFL Honors show in the days before the Super Bowl. A December slump costs a candidate more than a January masterpiece can repair. For related coverage, see How an NFL Mock Draft Gets Built: Order, Intel and Guesswork.
The calendar also shapes strategy. Campaigns from teams and media desks front-load the case, because voters file while the standings still hang in the balance, and a narrative that peaks in November beats one that peaks in January.
What history shows
The old system awarded one vote per panelist, and ties happened. Brett Favre and Barry Sanders shared the 1997 award, and Peyton Manning and Steve McNair split the 2003 prize. The ranked ballot that replaced it made deadlocks a near impossibility and made runner-up finishes measurable.
History also shows a lean toward the offense's engine. The latest vote handed the top two spots to passers, Stafford and Maye, and the award's DNA rewards the player who holds the ball, piles the volume stats and anchors a winner.
How a winning case is built
Volume numbers move voters first. Stafford's league-best yardage and touchdown totals sat at the top of the 2025 season case, followed by team success and then schedule drama. Voters weigh the season as one story, then rank five names in order before January football starts.
The gap last season was not close on paper. Stafford finished 313 passing yards and 15 touchdowns clear of Maye, the runner-up, and the vote reflected a season-long gap rather than one signature night.
Team context closes the case. A voter wants a winner attached to the numbers, because the award's history ties big counting stats to clubs that controlled their own division.
Defense rarely wins the conversation. The Associated Press hands out separate hardware for defensive player of the year and other honors on the same night, which leaves the biggest prize to the sport's biggest statistical stage.
The night of the reveal
NFL Honors doubles as the league's award catalog. The same 2026 show that crowned Stafford also named Myles Garrett the defensive player of the year on the strength of a 23-sack season, Mike Vrabel the coach of the year after a 14-3 campaign in New England, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba the offensive player of the year after a league-leading 1,793 receiving yards.
The rookie and comeback awards round out the card. Tetairoa McMillan took offensive rookie honors with 1,014 receiving yards, and Christian McCaffrey returned from injury to win comeback player of the year with 2,126 yards from scrimmage.
The pattern ran down the ballot. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger took defensive rookie honors with 146 tackles, and the assistant award landed with New England coordinator Josh McDaniels on the same night Vrabel won the top job award.
Conclusion
The NFL MVP is 50 ballots, five names and one regular season, decided before the playoffs and revealed under Super Bowl week lights. Stafford's 4,707-yard, 46-touchdown campaign took the latest edition, and the next vote opens the moment the final Week 18 whistle sounds. For related coverage, see How the NFL Playoffs Work Now: Bracket, Seeding and Dates.
