NFL MVP 2024: Award Candidates, Odds and Predictions

The NFL MVP should be handed out to a quarterback once again on Thursday night at the NFL Honors ceremony.

Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Dak Prescott and Brock Purdy are four of the five finalists for the award.

Christian McCaffrey is the only non-quarterback among the group, and he may lose some votes to his teammate Purdy.

Jackson is the front-runner for the award, which was up for debate for most of the second half of the NFL regular season.

Odds for the MVP ahead of Thursday night can be found on DraftKings Sportsbook.

Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Dak Prescott

One of the four quarterback finalists is expected to come away with the NFL MVP.

The MVP has been a quarterback award for most of its existence. Adrian Peterson, in 2012, was the last non-quarterback to capture the award.

That puts McCaffrey at a disadvantage despite producing a career high in rushing yards and the fourth-best receiving-yard total of his career.

The 49ers running back totaled 2,023 total yards and found the end zone 21 occasions, but that may not be enough to compare to the four quarterback finalists.

Purdy led the 49ers to the No. 1 seed in the NFC with 4,280 passing yards and 31 touchdowns.

The second-year QB may take some first-place votes away from his teammate because of his improvement at the command of one of the NFL's top offenses.

Prescott threw for more yards and touchdowns than Purdy, but he came up short against the 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. He had fewer than 200 passing yards in two of those contests and did not throw multiple touchdowns in any of those contests.

Allen would be the front-runner to win MVP if the award was only handed out for the second half of the regular season.

He led the Bills on a surge to the AFC East title, but he had multiple bad performances in the first half that make his resume incomplete.

Jackson was the most consistent quarterback in the regular season in meaningful games. He led the Ravens to wins over the Dolphins, 49ers, Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams.

The 2019 NFL MVP finished with fewer passing yards than Purdy, Allen and Prescott, but he had a larger impact on games with his legs and he won all of Baltimore's important regular-season contests.

Lamar Jackson Wins MVP

Jackson's success in the games that mattered most should give him the edge over the other MVP finalists.

Jackson had 16 touchdown passes and one interception in wins over Miami, San Francisco, Detroit and the Los Angeles Rams.

He eclipsed the 300-yard mark in three of those contests and ran for at least 35 yards in all of those matchups.

Allen had too many bad performances at the start of the season, Prescott struggled in Dallas' biggest games and the San Francisco duo of Purdy and McCaffrey were outclassed by Jackson in the head-to-head battle with Baltimore on Christmas Day.

A win would add Jackson to the multi-time MVP club alongside Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, Steve Young, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas and Jim Brown.

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