Despite the 2019 NFL season ending in disappointment, it was still a marvelous year for Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. In his first full year as the starter for the Ravens, he led them to a 14-2 regular-season record and the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Thanks to his league-leading 36 passing touchdowns, not to mention his record-breaking 1,206 rushing yards, Jackson became only the second unanimous winner of the NFL MVP award.
The bookmakers seem to like Jackson’s odds of becoming a repeat winner of the award, having him high on their list behind Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson. But repeating as the league’s best player is not a common achievement. Indeed, you have to go back to 2008 and 2009 for the last occurrence of a player winning back-to-back MVPs (Peyton Manning). With this in mind, I thought I’d take a look at how the most recent winners of the award fared the season after they took home the honor.
2010 – QB Tom Brady
From a counting stats point of view, Brady was actually much better in 2011, a year after he won the MVP award. He led the league in 2010 with 36 touchdowns while “only” throwing for 3,900 yards. He increased his touchdown passes to 39 in 2011, but his 5,235 passing yards were a career-high. Though his stats were even better than the previous season, Aaron Rodgers’ transcendent 2011 campaign snatched the award from Brady.
Brady led the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl following the season, but his hopes of winning a fourth Lombardi Trophy were dashed once again by Eli Manning and the New York Giants.