JJ Watt Remains Clear About Who His MVP Is Between Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, and Josh Allen

Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford both wrapped up their seasons with wins, but according to JJ Watt, the Patriots quarterback is the leading candidate for league MVP.

JJ Watt Remains Clear About Who His MVP Is Between Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, and Josh Allen

Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford and JJ Watt inside the circle (Image via IMAGO)

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Drake Maye built a strong case for himself to become the next NFL MVP after closing out the year with 14 wins as the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback. However, Maye is not the only quarterback eyeing the league’s best player’s crown.

Matthew Stafford has certainly given voters something to ponder as they await the final results in the coming weeks. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback threw four touchdowns in the last week of the season, dispatching the Arizona Cardinals 37-20. The Rams finished 12-5 and second in the NFC West.

Maye, meanwhile, orchestrated a 38-10 victory against the Miami Dolphins. He completed 77% of his passes for 191 yards and threw one touchdown pass. Furthermore, he set up Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson for a total of four TDs on the ground.

The 23-year-old signal caller capped off his second year in the league with 354 completions (72%) for 4394 yards, 35 total touchdowns, and just 8 picks. In contrast, Stafford finished as the leader in passing yards (4707) on 388 completions, 46 touchdowns, and 8 picks.

Stafford should win his maiden MVP if the voting was based on just the numbers alone. However, JJ Watt noted that voters comb through several aspects of a player’s season before casting their votes.

It’s so tough guys.

JJ Watt said on CBS post match show

JJ Watt’s honest opinion on who should be the MVP between Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford

Watt was voted the NFL Defensive Player of the Year three times in his career. He also finished in the top three on few different occasions.

JJ Watt Remains Clear About Who His MVP Is Between Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, and Josh Allen
Drake Maye (Image via IMAGO)

The ex-Texan/Cardinal lost first place voting after his team failed to qualify for the playoffs despite a brilliant individual year. So, the stats aren’t always the main factor when it comes to voting for the best player in football.

They [voters] do take team records into account… Looking at a first place team at a division and looking at a third place in a division might way into some people’s voting factor, saying ‘We can’t give MVP to a guy who finished third in their division.’

JJ Watt said

However, Watt believes it will be unfair to Stafford considering the season he has had. NFC West is one of the toughest divisions to win games in. Three teams finished with ten or more wins (the Rams, the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers), with the Seahawks clinching the NFC top seed.

That being said, Watt took into account that the Rams boast a superior roster with players like Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, and Jared Verse as the backbone.

If you took that guy off of their team, which team drops down further. If you take Drake Maye out of the Patriots, they dropping further down. As well as [Matthew] Stafford is playing, Sean McVay, Davante Adams and Puka Nacua, you can kinda piece’em in all together.

Watt argued

Watt’s colleague at CBS Sports, Damien Harris, also picked Maye as his front runner.

I think Drake Maye is more valuable to his team than Matthew Stafford.

Longtime sports contributor Skip Bayless picked Maye over Stafford as his favorite to win the MVP. Bayless stated that Stafford fell behind in the race after the Rams lost consecutive games against the Seahawks and the Falcons at the back end of the season.

For me, Matt Stafford blew the MVP in the 2 games vs Seattle and especially in the MNF disaster at Atlanta. I don’t care how many TD passes he has thrown. Congrats, Drake Maye.

Bayless tweeted

Despite the victory, the Patriots finished as the second seed as the Denver Broncos blew out the Los Angeles Chargers 19-3 in their final game. As things stand, the Patriots are set to host the Chargers in the wildcards while the Rams (NFC fifth seed) travel to Carolina to play the 8-9 Panthers, who qualified after the Falcons defeated the Saints.

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