Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye were the only two legitimate candidates for NFL MVP last season, finishing first and second in the voting. They received 47 of the 50 possible first-place votes, with Stafford barely , 24-23.
It was as close as an award vote can get, but there’s no doubt the right candidate won.
Unfortunately for both players, the 2026 season did not start the way they hoped. Maye threw three interceptions in the Patriots’ 13-10 loss to the ’ 27-7 loss to the 49ers on Thursday night.
According to OptaSTATS, it’s the first time in NFL history that the top two finishers in the previous year’s MVP race each failed to score more than 10 points in the season opener.
This is the first time in NFL history the top 2 finishers in the MVP voting the previous season each had their team score 10 or fewer points in the season opener. — OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS)Neither Stafford nor Maye looked like an MVP candidate in Week 1, but there are 16 games still to go. Every quarterback has a bad game at some point. It's just that theirs came in the season opener.
Stafford will try to bounce back against the