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Why Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow are our top picks for 2022 NFL MVP
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Why Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow are our top picks for 2022 NFL MVP

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The 2022 NFL regular season has come to a close, and only 14 teams remain to compete for Super Bowl LVII. Whether it was Patrick Mahomes excelling with less, Joe Burrow looking as cool as ever or Justin Jefferson breaking all types of Vikings receiving records, the league again delivered with historic performances from some of its most dynamic players.

Throughout the season, we’ve challenged our NFL staffers to pick their Most Valuable Player. It’s not who we think the MVP will be, but who we believe the MVP should be.

With the playoffs set to begin this weekend, these are the players who have best positioned themselves to earn this season’s prestigious award. But only one will ultimately take home the hardware.

— This year he did more with less after the Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill and went with a collection of secondary receivers rather than a legit No. 1. Mahomes had injuries at receiver and running back but again led the Chiefs to the top seed in the AFC. — Mike Jones, national NFL writer

— We’ve become numb to his brilliance. Another No. 1 seed. Another dominant season. He has a case almost every year to win the award, and it might be unfair to him that the bar has been set so high by his past performances. — Matt Schneidman, Packers beat writer

— He passes the eye test with his special play each week. And he also has the numbers. Mahomes finished the regular season leading the NFL in passing yards (5,250), passing touchdowns (41), first downs (272) and plays of 20-plus yards (73;  no one else had more than 57). He also had a career-high four rushing touchdowns. — Dane Brugler, senior NFL Draft analyst

— No need to overthink it. He’s the best player in the NFL — still — and just delivered another incredible season despite the Chiefs trading away his best receiver. The award is his. — Jimmy Durkin, senior NFL editor

— It’s pretty simple. His team led the league in points. His team led the league in yards. His team led the league in wins. By any important measure, he was the best player in football. — Jim Ayello, senior NFL editor

— Is this the quietest MVP season of all time? In his final four games, Mahomes threw eight touchdowns and no picks. He’s still the guy to beat, even if it seems like no one is talking about him. Oh, and he did this all without Tyreek Hill. — Kevin Fishbain, Bears beat writer

— Mahomes is the best player in the NFL, and no NFL player is more valuable to his team than Mahomes. Other than that, he doesn’t have much of a case. — Joe Rexrode, Nashville columnist

— The NFL’s one true unicorn and the QB all the young QBs want to be like. Nobody else in the league controls chaos the way Andy Reid’s superstar does. Still the best of the best. — Nick Baumgardner, NFL writer

— The Chiefs quarterback should get this award based on the execution of the “Arctic Circle” play alone. — Nick Kosmider, Broncos beat writer

— He’s like LeBron James. Basically every season, he’s good enough to win MVP. Whether he actually does depends on that year’s competition and voter fatigue as much as Mahomes’ own play. This year, there’s no obvious choice to overtake him, and it’s somehow been four years since he last won. And oh, by the way, Mahomes had one of his best seasons — including eye-popping efficiency on third downs and against the blitz — without Tyreek Hill. — David DeChant, senior NFL editor

— His stats alone make him worthy of the honor, but much like Stephen Curry, he does it in a way that we’ve never seen before. — Jon Machota, Cowboys beat writer

— I know he missed two games with a shoulder injury, but, if anything, that should boost his case as being this season’s MVP. The Eagles lost both of those games without him and were on the verge of squandering the top seed in the NFC. Then Hurts returned, even if not at 100 percent, and they got back to their winning ways. He’s 14-1 as a starter, has 35 total touchdowns (22 passing, 13 rushing) against just six interceptions and is the team’s bona fide leader. — Josiah Turner, senior NFL editor

— His ascension this season makes for a great story, but it’s also a perfect example of the ideal execution as a dual-threat quarterback. Hurts grew by leaps and bounds as a passer this year, but the utilization of his mobility in the red zone, in particular, set Philadelphia and Hurts apart from the rest. — Paul Dehner Jr., Bengals beat writer

— The engine of arguably the NFL’s top team, Hurts has done a little of everything for the Eagles. Most impressive is how he’s limited his mistakes. — Jeff Zrebiec, Ravens beat writer

— His two-game absence underscored his importance to the Eagles offense and struck down the notion of him being the byproduct of the offensive system rather than the reverse. If this award in your mind is about telling the story of which player’s star grew brightest over the course of the season, Hurts is a fine choice. — Bo Wulf, Eagles beat writer

— He’s not a system quarterback, he is the Eagles’ system. His absence proved that. — Adam Jahns, Bears beat writer 

— If he’d stayed healthy all the way through the regular season and the Eagles had finished 16-1, I’m not sure how much of a conversation we’d even need to have. But Hurts elevated his game to an entirely new level this year, and his team went right along for the ride. — Chris Burke, NFL staff editor

— He is the driving force behind an Eagles offense that is a nightmare for defenses to game plan for. He is one of the rare few who can truly beat you with his arm or his legs. — Ayello

— Patrick Mahomes is the best player in the league but Hurts has been the most valuable, leading a surprising Eagles team to the No. 1 seed in the NFC. — Vic Tafur, Raiders beat writer

3. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals (37 points)

— Burrow was recently asked about the Bengals’ Super Bowl window. His response? “The window’s my whole career.” You can say that when you’re an elite quarterback. And make no mistake about it, Burrow is one of the best in the business. After starting 0-2, Cincinnati finished 12-4 behind his career-high and franchise-record 35 touchdown passes and four game-winning drives. — James Boyd, Colts beat writer

— He’s the ultimate “pick your poison” QB who will beat teams with the long ball, checkdowns, back-shoulder passes, scrambles or whatever vulnerability a defense shows. And he just led the Bengals through a second-half-of-the-season gantlet with flying colors. Even without Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Mixon for multiple weeks, he just kept winning. — Dave Niinemets, NFL senior editor

— The Bengals are in an excellent position to challenge for a second-straight trip to the Super Bowl, and Burrow is reason No. 1. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills beat writer

— The Cincinnati quarterback’s right: the window for the Bengals is wide open as long as he’s the starting quarterback. Oh, and there’s this: Cincinnati hasn’t lost since Halloween. — Zak Keefer, Colts beat writer

— Burrow recognized how teams were defending his high-powered supporting cast of receivers and made the necessary adjustments to make Cincinnati the most dangerous underdog of the postseason. — Diante Lee, NFL staff writer

— You know how sometimes after the regular season, we all decide on the MVP, and then once the playoffs begin, we realize we were actually wrong? Burrow could be that guy. — Doug Haller, senior writer

4. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills (28 points)

— It’s not always pretty, but oftentimes, it is spectacular. Allen finished with 42 total touchdowns (35 passing, seven rushing), which is the second most behind Mahomes’ 45 scores. When watching Allen compete, it always feels like an explosive play is about to happen. — Brugler

— Allen didn’t miss a single game this season, even while battling through a multiweek injury to his throwing arm. He also had to contend with an inconsistent group of pass catchers outside of Stefon Diggs and, at times, a below-average offensive line in front of him. Without Allen at quarterback, the Bills would likely be just a slightly above-average team. — Buscaglia

— The Bills are completely dependent on Allen’s creativity as a runner and passer. He has carried that offense. —Ted Nguyen, NFL staff writer

— The very high bar he set in the 2021 playoffs probably has not been reached this year, but when it comes to players who bring value to championship-caliber teams, this is another easy selection. He has another gear to find here in the postseason, and if he finds it, the Bills could be the Super Bowl favorites. — Bob Sturm, Cowboys beat writer

— Allen wills the Bills at times, overpowers the opposition and can make the huge play almost on demand. — Mike Sando, NFL columnist

— Bad Josh made a few too many cameos between Week 8 and Week 18, especially in the red zone. But Good Josh is the only player in the league on Mahomes’ level, and nobody (save perhaps Lamar Jackson, who has now been hurt in consecutive seasons) carries a heavier load than Allen, who is the center of every single thing the Bills do on offense. Imagine him in the Eagles offense. That’s why he gets the nod for me over Hurts. — DeChant

5. Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings (11 points)

— I’d argue he’s the most exciting skill-position player in the league, and there’s no chance Minnesota would be 13-4 without him. It would be easy to peg Kirk Cousins as an MVP candidate just because it’s become a quarterback-driven award. But Cousins can be hit or miss. And Jefferson makes Cousins more of a hit than a miss. — Larry Holder, NFL writer/columnist

— I feel strange voting for a receiver here over someone like Joe Burrow or Josh Allen, but this just speaks to Jefferson’s utter dominance this season. If he had a comparable season as a quarterback, he’d win this award unanimously. Between leading the league in receptions, targets, receiving yards and first downs AND making some of the more ridiculous catches you’ll ever see (see Week 10 versus Buffalo), I would argue Jefferson had one of the best receiving seasons in NFL history. — Adam Hirshfield, NFL deputy managing editor

— The Vikings are a confounding team, but there’s no doubt about Jefferson’s remarkable abilities. — Ben Standig, Commanders beat writer

— Let’s be real: You take Jefferson out of the Vikings’ lineup this season, and that’s maybe a seven- or eight-win team. Even as defenses crafted entire game plans around him, Jefferson just kept racking up yards, TDs and eye-popping highlights. — Burke

— Everyone likes to rag on the Vikings for not feeling like a 13-win team. So imagine how many wins they’d have without the best wide receiver on earth? He’s not a quarterback, which tends to disqualify him as an MVP candidate, but that should be different with Jefferson, who has been unstoppable against just about everyone who has tried to cover him and keeps Minnesota in every game with his presence. His numbers don’t hurt either. — Zack Rosenblatt, Jets beat writer

— If there was a wide receiver who should be strongly considered for MVP, it’s Jefferson. It’s just the wrong year (or era) because there will always be a Mahomes or Burrow or Allen, etc. Look at that Vikings roster and figure out how they won 13 games, then go watch Jefferson. — Fishbain

— The simple answer is that Jefferson is the best receiver in the league. His rare skills and clutch plays this season have been the biggest reasons the Vikings have won so many one-score games. — Nate Taylor, Chiefs beat writer

— Why not a defensive player? It’s just as big a part of the game as offense, and Bosa was the best defensive player in the league while also playing on the league’s best defense and one of the true Super Bowl contenders. No, he’s not going to win, but he deserves some votes. — Durkin

— The likely Defensive Player of the Year deserves some love. He led the NFL with 18.5 sacks, and he was the best player on the best defense in the league, which drove the 49ers to 13 wins despite playing the majority of the season with a second- or third-string quarterback. — Tashan Reed, Raiders beat writer

— He has singlehandedly changed the course of football games in a way that usually only quarterbacks do. — David Lombardi, 49ers beat writer

— Though Kyle Shanahan has maximized Brock Purdy, the Niners are a Super Bowl contender because of their elite defense. Bosa has been the league’s most dominant defender this season. — Aaron Reiss, NFL staff editor

7. Denny Kellington, Buffalo Bills (3 points)

— Kellington, the Bills’ assistant athletic trainer, administered CPR on Damar Hamlin after the safety suffered cardiac arrest on the field, saving his life and preserving his neurological function. — Schneidman

8. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens (1 point)

— Although the Ravens managed to go 3-3 without him, their offense fell apart without him, averaging just 12.5 points a game. If he stays healthy, then he likely rushes for 1,000 yards (again) and Baltimore faces Jacksonville in the first round instead of Cincinnati. — Tim Graham, senior writer

(Points are awarded on a 3-2-1 basis.)

(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photos: Jamie Squire, Michael Hickey / Getty Images)



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