User:Lizard the Wizard/NFL MVP

A National Football League Most Valuable Player (NFL MVP) award has been given by various entities over time to honor the National Football League (NFL) player deemed most valuable to his respective team. Today, the winner of the AP Most Valuable Player Award presented by the Associated Press (AP) is considered the de facto official NFL MVP award. Since 2011, the NFL has held the annual NFL Honors ceremony to recognize the winner of each year's Associated Press MVP award, along with other AP awards, such as the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year and AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The AP has presented its MVP award since 1957, although the 2015 NFL Record and Fact Book refers to the pre-1961 awardees as winning the AP's "NFL Most Outstanding Player Award". The award is voted upon by a panel of 50 sportswriters at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs, though the results are not announced to the public until the day before the Super Bowl. The sportswriters chosen regularly follow the NFL, and remain mostly consistent from year to year. They are chosen based on expertise and are independent of the league itself. Voters of the award have included Troy Aikman of Fox Sports; Chris Collinsworth and Tony Dungy of NBC Sports; and Herm Edwards of ESPN.

Peyton Manning has won the award five times, more than any other player. Manning is also the only player to win the AP MVP award with more than one team, winning with four with the Indianapolis Colts and one with the Denver Broncos. Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, and Brett Favre have won three times each, with Favre winning three consecutively. Two-time winners include Joe Montana, Steve Young, Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers. The award has been overwhelmingly dominated by offensive players; of the 59 winners, 56 played offensively. Alan Page won in 1971 as a defensive tackle, and Lawrence Taylor as a linebacker in 1986. The sole special teams player to be named AP NFL MVP was Mark Moseley, who won as a placekicker in 1982. Thirteen awardees also won the Super Bowl in the same season, with Kurt Warner being the latest to accomplish this feat as he was named the 1999 AP NFL MVP and won Super Bowl XXXIV with the St. Louis Rams. The only player to be voted unanimously is quarterback Tom Brady, as he received 50 out of 50 votes in 2010. The incumbent AP NFL MVP is quarterback Cam Newton, who garnered 48 out of 50 votes for 2015 after leading the Carolina Panthers to Super Bowl 50.

Awards per team

 * *indicates MVP award was shared

Awards per position

 * *In 2003, the award was shared between two quarterbacks, and thus counts for two MVPs in one year. In 1997, the award was shared between a running back and a quarterback, giving both categories an MVP in one year.