Why Drake Maye Should Have Won 2025 NFL MVP Over Matthew Stafford

The 37-year-old Rams quarterback captured his first MVP award on Thursday night.

Matthew Stafford is the 2025 NFL MVP. | Maye: David Butler II-Imagn Images / Stafford: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

SAN FRANCISCO — The 2025 NFL Honors officially have wrapped up on Thursday night from the Bay Area, with Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford narrowly edging Patriots signal-caller Drake Maye for the league’s MVP award.

Stafford finished the regular season leading the league in both passing yards (4,707) and passing touchdowns (46) while only turning the football over 11 times and leading Los Angeles to a 12–5 record and a wild-card spot in the NFC playoffs.

Having said that, I'm not sure the Associated Press made the right decision with this one. Here's my argument for why Maye—not Stafford—should be walking away with the NFL MVP trophy on Thursday night.

The strength of schedule conversation is weak

The Patriots went 2–0 against the Jets this season. | Robert Deutsch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There are some who have continued to point to the strength of schedule for both the Patriots’ (0.391, easiest) and Rams’ (0.526, seventh-hardest) throughout the 2025 season as the end-all be-all for why Stafford is more deserving than Maye. And while that’s a fair data point to include, it’s far from the only factor that should decide the MVP race.

To that end, New England and Los Angeles faced six common opponents this year—the Panthers, Saints, Titans, Buccaneers, Ravens, and Falcons—and Maye was more productive than Stafford in several key categories (the most important, of course, being record) in those matchups. Here’s how the two stacked up against the same competition:

Stat	Drake Maye	Matthew Stafford
Record:	6–0	4–2
Completion Percentage:	69%	71%
Passing Yards:	1,495	1,544
Touchdowns:	13	14
Interceptions:	3	6
Rushing Yards:	259	-10
Rushing Touchdowns:	1	0

How’s that for strength of schedule?

Counting stats aside, Maye did more—and he did it with less

Drake Maye's wide receiver group is far from what Matthew Stafford has in Los Angeles. | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

While Stafford did throw for more yards (4,707 vs. 4,394) and touchdowns (46 vs. 31) than Maye, the second-year pro was far more efficient throughout the course of the season. Not only did the Patriots' signal-caller lead the NFL in passer rating (113.5) and QBR (77.1), but he also ranked first in completion percentage (72.0%) while also leading the league in average yards per attempt (8.9).

Oh yeah, and the wide receiving cast he did it with? They’re a far less talented bunch than what Stafford worked with. Sure, the likes of Stefon Diggs, Kayshon Boutte, and DeMario Douglas were more than serviceable for a New England offense that was second in the NFL in points (28.8) and third in yards (379.4) per game, but Los Angeles’s weapons are a different breed. The Rams have stars Puka Nacua and Davante Adams at receiver, four (!) dependable tight ends in Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee, Terrance Ferguson, and Davis Allen, and a two-headed monster in the backfield with running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum.

There’s levels to this.

The Patriots finished the season better than the Rams

The Rams were a wild-card team in 2025. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

At the end of the day, this is the Most Valuable Player award, not the best player award. And while you may be able to argue that Stafford played the position at a higher level than Maye this season (though I’d disagree), making the same case about the value they provided to their team is far more difficult.

New England—with a worse roster than L.A.—finished 14–3, won the AFC East for the first time since 2019, and earned the conference's No. 2 seed while the Rams—albeit in a more difficult decision—finished 12–5, second in the division behind the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks, and only qualified for the postseason as a wild card.

When all of the above context is accounted for, Maye’s case to win the 2025 NFL MVP is ultimately a stronger one than Stafford's. The 23-year-old did more with less, against relatively similar competition, and his impact translated directly to a 10-win turnaround that shaped New England’s run to Super Bowl LX.

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