{"id":734047,"date":"2026-02-06T19:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T19:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734047\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T19:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T19:05:16","slug":"rams-matthew-stafford-edges-patriots-drake-maye-for-nfl-mvp-award-butler-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734047\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams\u2019 Matthew Stafford edges Patriots\u2019 Drake Maye for NFL MVP award \u2013 Butler Eagle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was named NFL MVP on Thursday.. Associated Press<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Matthew Stafford walked away with the NFL Most Valuable Player<\/a> award and a declaration he’s returning to the Los Angeles Rams for another season.<\/p>\n

Stafford edged Drake Maye for the MVP award Thursday night in the closest race since Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners in 2003.<\/p>\n

Stafford received 24 of 50 first-place votes while Maye got 23. But Maye has a chance to go home this week with a Vince Lombardi Trophy. He leads the New England Patriots against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Stafford, who turns 38 Saturday, wants another opportunity to try to win his second Super Bowl ring with the Rams.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, I’ll be back. It was such an amazing season and I play with such a great group of guys and great group of coaches that I was lucky enough to finish this season healthy, and I wanna make sure that I go out there and see what happens next year,” Stafford told the AP.<\/p>\n

Stafford brought his four daughters \u2014 all dressed in identical black-and-white dresses \u2014 to the stage to accept the award.<\/p>\n

He thanked his team and saved his wife and daughters for last: \u201cYou\u2019re unbelievable cheerleaders for me. I appreciate it. I am so happy to have you at the games on the sideline with me, and I can\u2019t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we\u2019re out there kicking (butt).\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Stafford\u2019s way of announcing he will be back next season after contemplating retirement.<\/p>\n

Myles Garrett was a unanimous choice for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year award after setting a season record for sacks with 23.<\/p>\n

All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba beat out Christian McCaffrey for the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award.<\/p>\n

New England\u2019s Mike Vrabel beat out Jacksonville\u2019s Liam Coen for the NFL Coach of the Year<\/a> award, becoming the seventh coach to win it with two different teams.<\/p>\n

McCaffrey became the first running back to win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 24 years.<\/p>\n

Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger was a runaway winner for the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award.<\/p>\n

Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan ran away with the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.<\/p>\n

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels<\/a> won the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award in the first season of his third stint with the team.<\/p>\n

A nationwide panel<\/a> of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began. Votes were tabulated by the accounting firm Lutz and Carr.<\/p>\n

Voters selected a top 5 for the eight AP NFL awards. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.<\/p>\n

Josh Allen, the 2024 NFL MVP, received two first-place MVP votes, and Justin Herbert got the other one.<\/p>\n

Stafford, who earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his 17-year career, finished with 366 points to Maye\u2019s 361. Allen placed third with 91 points, Christian McCaffrey (71) was fourth and Trevor Lawrence (49) came in fifth.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s McCaffrey\u2019s second top-five finish in three years, more than any other non-quarterback since the weighted point system was implemented in 2022.<\/p>\n

Stafford led the NFL with 4,707 yards passing and 46 TDs. He threw eight picks and finished second to Maye with a 109.2 passer rating. Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams lost to Seattle in the NFC championship game.<\/p>\n

Maye had 4,394 yards passing, 31 TDs and eight picks. The second-year pro led the league in passer rating (113.5) and completion percentage (72).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was named NFL MVP on Thursday.. Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Matthew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2079],"tags":[21561,15012,21550,21568,21574,21576,6786,21557,21555,9488,21556,21560,21554,21573,21567,7,21553,21571,21559,21551,21562,4247,1014,58,2444,2611,21575,21565,88,6,21323,5763,21566,21552,21558,424,21570,21569,6970,18017,21564,21563,21572],"class_list":{"0":"post-734047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-bruin","9":"tag-butler","10":"tag-butler-eagle","11":"tag-cabot","12":"tag-callery","13":"tag-cherry-valley","14":"tag-community-news","15":"tag-connoquenessing","16":"tag-cranberry","17":"tag-crime","18":"tag-east-butler","19":"tag-eau-claire","20":"tag-education-news","21":"tag-evans-city","22":"tag-fairview","23":"tag-football","24":"tag-government-news","25":"tag-harmony","26":"tag-harrisville","27":"tag-high-school-sports-news","28":"tag-karns-city","29":"tag-local-news","30":"tag-los-angeles","31":"tag-los-angeles-rams","32":"tag-losangeles","33":"tag-losangelesrams","34":"tag-mars","35":"tag-mount-chesnut","36":"tag-news","37":"tag-nfl","38":"tag-obituaries","39":"tag-pennsylvania","40":"tag-petrolia","41":"tag-political-news","42":"tag-portersville","43":"tag-rams","44":"tag-sarver","45":"tag-saxonburg","46":"tag-slippery-rock","47":"tag-valencia","48":"tag-west-liberty","49":"tag-west-sunbury","50":"tag-zelienople"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734047","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=734047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}