The league’s Most Valuable Player race will still come down to one exemplary player, but a change in the voting procedure promises to make for some interesting back-and-forth when the end-of-season awards are finally handed out in early February.
Starting this year, each Associated Press voter will cast a ballot ranking their top five choices for MVP (and top three for every other prize) instead of listing just one name for each award. The idea is to recognize not only the most elite of the elites, but also players and coaches who are near the top of their class and deserve an honorable mention for their 2022 contributions.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes would seem to be the runaway favorite for this season; not much drama there. Maybe someone else earns a few stray first-place votes. So perhaps the meatier food for thought will be sorting through who should rightfully come in second, third, and so on.
ESPN analytics guru Seth Walder took that idea and ran ever further with it. Rather than stop at five names for MVP, he compiled a ballot that ranks the NFL’s 100 most valuable players.
He used hard stats and metrics to arrive at his choices but also factored in qualitative analysis, other awards, and the opinions of league personnel. Quarterbacks still dominate the top of the list; Walder notes that he “focused on how much value a player created relative to an average starter at their position.”
The Cowboys are well-represented, with one player falling just barely outside the Top 10 and a total of four stars placing in the Top 60. (Only the Eagles, Chiefs, and 49ers have more players in that group.)