November 25th, 2025
By Stephen Juza
After Week 12, the NFL MVP award has been turning into a two-man race between Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye. As these quarterbacks continue leading their teams’ to the number one seed in their conference, other contenders last week dropped down rankings because of unfortunate losses. While the MVP field narrows this week, there are contenders on the fringe that could make a run with a stellar end to the season.
Being an MVP requires lots of work in the classroom for these NFL players, studying film of their opponents, reviewing the new gameplan for the week, and lots of hard work in the offseason. They can’t phone it in, or say “Coach, I want someone to do my assignment for me”. They’ve got to put in the work day after day, week after week.
Matthew Stafford - Los Angeles Rams, Quarterback
Stafford has continued to solidify his chance for his first ever MVP. With a very efficient 34-7 victory over Tampa Bay, Stafford threw for three more touchdowns to extend his touchdown lead over the rest of the league (30 touchdowns) with only two interceptions on the season. Only one other player in the league has more than 1,500 yards passing with fewer interceptions, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. With each passing week, Stafford puts up better stats.
This last week was his fifth straight game with multiple touchdown passes without an interception, and during that run he’s been careful to not take sacks either. It’s been since September since he’s been sacked three or more times in a game. Stafford has always lit up the stat sheet, but with the Rams leading the NFC, he’s turned this into his award to lose with six games to go in the season.
Drake Maye - New England Patriots, Quarterback
While Stafford is the wily old vet, his competition for the MVP is a second-year player out of North Carolina. Drake Maye has led the New England Patriots to a stunning turnaround from the 2024 season, with the team leading the entire NFL with a 10-2 record after coming in last in the AFC East just a season ago. While Stafford is leading the league in passing touchdowns, Maye leads the league in passing yards (3,130).
Maye has been remarkably consistent all season long. At least a touchdown in every game (except one). He protects the football with zero games with more interceptions than touchdowns. And his season low for passing yards is 203, while his season high was this week with 294 yards. Hardly a subpar game this season, and if his steady hand continues to lead the Patriots to the #1 seed, his MVP candidacy is hard to look away from.
The Field
With Stafford and Maye emerging as the likely candidates, other players may only get consideration with a dramatic finish to the season in the form of a major win streak. We had Colts running back Jonathan Taylor on the list last week, and he followed that up with his second worst game of the season when he only ran for 58 yards. Reigning MVP Josh Allen has fallen farther down our list after their second loss in three weeks, which now has them on the cusp of missing the playoffs. And one name that can’t be ignored is two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes, whose Kansas City Chiefs are sitting outside the playoffs looking in right now, but if they were able to close out the 2025 season with a playoff berth, it will likely be on his arm making big plays through the stretch.
This late in the season, it’s very likely that one of these five players will be hoisting the MVP trophy in February.