By the narrowest of margins, Matthew Stafford took home the NFL MVP award last season.
Stafford beat Drake Maye by one first-place vote (24 to 23) and five total points (366 to 361) in the 2025 NFL MVP voting.
Who will reign supreme in 2026?
Let’s check out the odds at bet365 Sportsbook as of Sept. 21, as well as what to know about each contender.
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2026 NFL MVP Odds
What To Know: Allen won the award in 2024, receiving 27 first-place votes compared to 22 for Lamar Jackson. In Week 1, Allen went up against the league’s best defense from a season ago (Houston) and put up 36 points on the road. He threw for 334 yards and a touchdown, and also rushed for two touchdowns. He followed up that performance with 317 total yards and five touchdowns in the Bills’ 41-31 Week 2 win over the Lions. Allen recorded three passing touchdowns and two rushing scores for the fourth time in his career, twice more than any other player in NFL history. Allen now has nine total touchdowns without a turnover through two games. The only other players to accomplish that in the Super Bowl era are Patrick Mahomes in 2018 and Peyton Manning in 2013 — both of whom won MVP. Will Allen follow in their footsteps? His MVP odds shortened from +450 to +350 following Thursday night’s historic performance.
What To Know: Mahomes won MVP in 2018 and again in 2022, and now he appears all the way back after suffering a torn ACL late last season. In the overtime win over the Colts, Mahomes had a vintage performance, throwing for 382 yards and three touchdowns. With the win, he tied Tom Brady for the third-most wins in a player’s first 10 seasons since 1950. And as a result, his odds to win MVP were cut in half from +1600 to +800.
What To Know: Purdy has surged up the oddsboard from +1400 to +800 after his dominant start to the season. In the blowout Week 2 win over the Dolphins, Purdy completed 20 of his 22 passes for 287 yards and three total touchdowns. His 90.9% completion percentage on Sunday ranked as the second-highest in a regular-season game in his career.
What To Know: Jackson was named unanimous MVP in 2019, receiving all 50 first-place votes. He joined Tom Brady (2010) as the only player to ever win the award unanimously. Jackson again won the award in 2023, receiving 49 of 50 first-place votes. He struggled with injuries last season, but through the first two weeks of 2026, he has completed 67.9% of his passes for 559 yards, 2 touchdowns while adding 11 rushes for 74 yards (6.7 YPC) and another rushing touchdown.
What To Know: Oddly enough, Burrow has never received a first-place MVP vote. Injuries certainly play a role in that fact. In six professional seasons, he’s missed six or more games three times. He threw for 207 yards and two TD’s in a huge Week 2 road win over the Texans.
What To Know: Prescott often has his name mentioned in the MVP race, but he only came relatively close in 2023. He finished second to Jackson that year, but even then, he didn’t receive any first-place votes. By throwing four touchdown passes in a dominant Week 2 performance against the Commanders, Prescott became the Cowboys all-time leader with 249 career passing touchdowns.
What To Know: Lawrence probably had the easiest Week 1 catchup of the MVP candidates, as the Jags hosted the lowly Browns. Lawrence had his way with Cleveland, throwing for 245 yards and four TDs in a blowout victory. But Week 2 was a different story. Lawrence only threw for 189 yards, 0 touchdowns and a pick in the Jags 20-13 loss to the Broncos.
What To Know: Stafford is the reigning MVP after leading the NFL in passing yards (4,707) and touchdowns (46) last season. However, his 2026 campaign got off to a rough start, as he threw for just 155 yards and an interception in the Rams’ Week 1 loss to the 49ers. Stafford responded in a big way in Week 2, completing 71% of his passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns. The performance moved him past Philip Rivers for sixth on the NFL’s all-time passing touchdowns list with 427, while his odds to repeat as MVP surged to +1800.
