Many NFL fans presumed Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson would win his second consecutive MVP award in 2024 after being named the league’s All-Pro first team quarterback.
Instead, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen surprisingly edged Jackson to win his first-ever MVP award.
Allen became just the third player in NFL history to win MVP without making the All-Pro first team. The other two were Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, who beat All-Pro quarterback Joe Montana for the award in 1987, and Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair, who shared the award with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in 2003.
How did Allen pull off the win? Some of the voters split their votes, with Jackson getting the All-Pro nod and Allen earning their MVP vote.
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
Among those to take that approach was ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky. The former NFL quarterback explained that he differentiated his vote based on ‘the value that the player brought to their football team.’
‘The Bills were the No. 2 seed. Josh had a 40-touchdown, 8-turnover, 14-sack season,’ Orlovsky detailed on ESPN’s Get Up on Friday. ‘The Bills didn’t have an elite defense. The Bills had a very good run game, not a great run game. They didn’t have elite perimeter players in any regard. The way that Josh played this season, and the different style that he played, brought tremendous value to their football team.’
‘Lamar’s season was absolutely sensational,’ Orlovsky added. ‘He was probably the best player in football this year; or Ja’Marr Chase; or Saquon Barkley. But value, and how much you impact your team, who you do it with and who you do it against – that’s where I thought Josh Allen had the upper hand.’
Orlovsky obviously wasn’t alone in his decision. Jackson received 30 first-place votes in the All-Pro voting but saw that number drop to 23 in the MVP voting. Meanwhile, Allen saw his total first-place votes balloon from 18 to 27, allowing him to win the award.
Nonetheless, Orlovsky received pushback from his fellow ESPN hosts and former NFL players Domonique Foxworth and Jeff Saturday, with Foxworth decrying the ‘semantics foolishness’ about value in the discussion.
‘I think both of them had MVP-caliber seasons, but it feels like you’re trying to find a little semantics trap door – so you can give this to him and that to them – because you don’t actually want to say what you really want to say,’ Foxworth said. ‘That Lamar Jackson had the best season this year.’