{"id":661513,"date":"2026-01-07T16:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661513\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:13:11","slug":"myles-garrett-should-be-2025s-nfl-mvp-inside-the-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661513\/","title":{"rendered":"Myles Garrett should be 2025\u2019s NFL MVP \u00bb Inside The Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There has been a great deal of online chatter and debate over who should win the NFL\u2019s MVP award this year.<\/p>\n<p>The East Coast Media Mafia, of course, is desirous of having the next Tom Brady to carry on about. They have focused on Drake Maye, the quarterback for the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n<p>Outside of the New England states, who often forget the other 45 states exist, Matt Stafford is the front-runner.<\/p>\n<p>The quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams has put up an incredible season.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll make the cases for and against both players below.<\/p>\n<p>However, the correct answer to the question of who will be the 2025 NFL MVP lies somewhere in between. In Ohio, to be more precise.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland Browns\u2019 defensive end Myles Garrett is the clear choice to be named the Most Valuable Player.<\/p>\n<p>And here is why.<\/p>\n<p>Garrett Gets It Done<\/p>\n<p>Late in the Browns\u2019 season finale on Sunday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/boxscore\/_\/gameId\/401772964\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Garrett brought down Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow for a sack<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It was his 23rd sack of the season, setting a new NFL record. Michael Strahan (2001 \u2013 Giants) and T.J. Watt (2021 \u2013 Steelers) held the record at 22.5.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AA1TyLDW.jpg\" height=\"667\" width=\"1000\"   class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-207903 sp-no-webp\" alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>The Steelers so wanted to deny Garrett breaking the record against them that they sacrificed beating the Browns \u2013 and securing the AFC North title \u2013 to keep him at 22 for one more week.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Garrett got it done. He\u2019s also gotten it done despite playing for a team with no offense.<\/p>\n<p>Cleveland\u2019s 5-12 will be held against him.<\/p>\n<p>But the award isn\u2019t given to the best player on the team with the best record.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s given to the best player in the NFL. Garrett is double-, and sometimes, triple-teamed.<\/p>\n<p>Plays are called to get away from the side of the ball he lines up on.<\/p>\n<p>That is only done against the best of the best. And that, in 2025, is Garrett.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a pity Dallas didn\u2019t make a stronger move for him when he became available <a href=\"https:\/\/insidethestar.com\/what-does-the-trade-for-quinnen-williams-mean-for-dallas\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">instead of who they traded for<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, he probably won\u2019t win it as voters love the quarterbacks when it comes to MVP voting.<\/p>\n<p>The last 12 players to win the award have all been quarterbacks. You have to go all the way back to 2012 when Adrian Peterson won it as a running back.<\/p>\n<p>Which means it will either be Stafford or Maye.<\/p>\n<p>Stafford\u2019s Superior Year<\/p>\n<p>Maye has posted a 14-3 record in 2025 against Stafford\u2019s 12-5 mark.<\/p>\n<p>Maye plays for a division-winning team. Stafford\u2019s team had the lead in their division and the No. 1 seed in hand but let it slip away at the end.<\/p>\n<p>But again, the MVP is an individual award.<\/p>\n<p>The only time records should enter into the equation is when doing a deeper dive into the stats.<\/p>\n<p>Maye has played one of the softest schedules in league history this year. It has been so soft, even the McDonald\u2019s ice cream machine didn\u2019t break down when serving it.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 14 teams in the playoffs, the Patriots are the only team below .400 in both strength of schedule and strength of victory.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/USATSI_24482222-scaled-4276121561-1024x683.jpg\" height=\"683\" width=\"1024\"   class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-207905 sp-no-webp\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Maye finished with 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>All solid numbers. But he couldn\u2019t beat the Raiders and lit up the Jets and Dolphins twice each, along with games against the Saints, Bengals, and Falcons.<\/p>\n<p>Not exactly the titans of the NFL in 2025 there.<\/p>\n<p>Stafford put up 4,707 passing yards. He finished with 46 touchdowns and eight interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>He also faced much tougher defenses this year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AA1Tmpvt.jpg\" height=\"563\" width=\"1000\"   class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-207901 sp-no-webp\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>The Rams\u2019 strength of schedule was .528. Their strength of victory was .488.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots\u2019 numbers were .390 and .371 by comparison.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s take a look at their final games.<\/p>\n<p>Playing for the potential No. 1 seed, Maye threw for 191 yards and a touchdown. Playing for a higher wildcard seeding, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/boxscore\/_\/gameId\/401772955\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Stafford threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Stafford\u2019s numbers, against stronger opposition, clearly put him ahead of Maye in any MVP conversation outside of New England.<\/p>\n<p>How The Vote Should End<\/p>\n<p>If I had to bet on it, I\u2019d say Stafford will win the MVP this year. But if I had a vote, here\u2019s how the Top 3 would look:<\/p>\n<p>Myles Garrett<br \/>\nMatt Stafford<br \/>\nDrake Maye<\/p>\n<p class=\"afp-question\">Was this helpful?<\/p>\n<p class=\"afp-thanks\" style=\"display: none;\">Thanks for your feedback!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There has been a great deal of online chatter and debate over who should win the NFL\u2019s MVP&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95686,833,7,32,1304,6,90071,10169],"class_list":["post-661513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-2025-nfl-mvp","tag-drake-maye","tag-football","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-myles-garrett","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-nfc-east","tag-nfl-mvp"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115854705279855874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}