Drake Maye May Have Lost MVP Because 3 Voters Threw Away Their Ballot
Maye had 23 of 50 first place votes
The NFL Honors presentation was held on Thursday night, and the New England Patriots swept up. Head coach Mike Vrabel was named the Coach of the Year. Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels brought home Assistant of the Year. But in the grandaddy of them all, the MVP award, quarterback Drake Maye came up just short.
It was the closest MVP race since 2003, with Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford barely beating out the 23-year-old Maye in his 17th NFL season.
But the most interesting part of the final results wasn’t that Stafford beat Maye by just one first-place vote; it was the fact that three voters in particular chose to use their coveted MVP vote to support a candidate other than the two most deserving.
Only 50 voters in the entire country received a ballot. Of the 50, 24 had Stafford as the winner, and 23 chose Maye.
Two voters decided to side with reigning MVP Josh Allen after he finished outside of the top ten in passing yards.
And one lonely AP voter gave his all-important vote to Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, who wasn’t even a finalist.
Herbert had the fourth most interceptions in the league, a QBR in the 60s and a double-digit passer rating.
Because the voters’ ballots are anonymous, we are unable to see who finished in second place on these three inexcusible slips. It’s impossible to know for sure if those were Maye votes or not.
A first-place vote is worth 10 points, while a second-place vote is worth five points. Maye lost by a tally of 366 to 361.
