Insider Names Chiefs Rival as MVP Favorite, Not Patrick Mahomes

No one is exactly sure what it takes to win the NFL's MVP award. Look at 2024. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen won MVP, yet Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was named First-Team All-Pro.

The AP NFL MVP and All-Pro awards are voted on by the same group of 50 media members selected by the Associated Press, so do with that what you will. However, Patrick Mahomes, a two-time winner of the award, knows exactly what an MVP looks like, and with a rebuilt offense expected to once again attack through the air, Mahomes is surely a favorite to win it.

However, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer was asked who he thinks will win MVP.

"Give me Joe Burrow," wrote Breer.

"The wild thing is that he could have won it last year, in a season when the Bengals didn’t even make the playoffs. He threw more yards (4,918) and touchdowns (43) than anyone else, and had the most throws (652) and completions (460), too, while maintaining the fourth-highest completion percentage (70.6%) in all of football. His passer rating of 108.5 was third. And he accomplished all that with the NFL’s 30th-ranked run game alongside him, and the league’s 25th-ranked defense playing opposite him—giving him a heavy burden week-to-week."

"That’s without even getting into Tee Higgins’s health, or Ja’Marr Chase’s contract standoff, which forced Cincinnati to integrate younger players at the receiver spots on the fly."

"Now, Josh Allen was richly deserving of MVP last year, in lifting the Bills in their first post–Stefon Diggs season. Similarly, Lamar Jackson was a very worthy runner-up. So I’m not saying there was some injustice done. But it’s common that a guy will have an MVP-worthy year, and then actually get the award the year after (Allen’s an example of it). And in the end, I do think the Bengals will wind up winning 12 or so games, after the offense had its healthiest offseason in years, which will make Burrow’s body of work pretty hard to overlook."

"Obviously, I reserve the right to change my mind. But I think Burrow’s in an awesome spot going into the fall."

Why does Joe Burrow put up numbers while Mahomes wins championships? That's because the Chiefs invest in their defense while the Bengals have yet to secure the 2025 services of NFL sack leader Trey Hendrickson and first-round pick Shemar Stewart.

The Bengals had an amazing year on offense, a year Burrow should have won the MVP in. Why didn't he? Because the Bengals went 9-8 with a defense that stunk.

Despite bringing in new defensive coordinator Al Golden, the Bengals are preparing to play in 2025 without Hendrickson, Stewart, Sam Hubbard, and Germaine Pratt, with Hendrickson, Hubbard, and Pratt helping lift the Bengals over the Chiefs in the 2022 AFC Championship Game.

Mahomes has Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Jalen Royals, three downfield demons and the Chiefs have the defense that allows Mahomes to gamble.

With all due respect, I think Breer is wrong on this one.

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