The MVP discussion is starting to catch fire as we are eight weeks into the 2025-26 NFL season. This season has gone by extremely fast, and the trade deadline is only one week away.
The MVP is a quarterback award for the most part. However, every once in a while, you get a running back who is, without a doubt, the best player on that team. In this case, it's Colts running back Jonathan Taylor. Taylor has established himself as a mid-season MVP candidate alongside a few quarterbacks.
The QBs that are included in the MVP discussion right now are Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Drake Maye, Daniel Jones, and Mathew Stafford. Those five are leading their teams and are playing some elite ball right now.
Drake Maye was not projected to rise this quickly, but he has. Maye and the New England Patriots are 6-2 on the season and lead the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East by one game. New England has a chance to win that division and will almost certainly make the postseason unless an unlikely collapse happens.
Maye is playing extremely well. He's thrown for 2,026 yards, which is 5th in the league. He is 6th with 15 touchdown passes and 4th in total QBR at 76.3. He threw a bad interception against the Cleveland Browns in Week 8, but that was only his third of the season.
Former Patriot legend Rob Gronkowski is throwing support behind Maye and him potentially winning MVP at the end of this season.
“It's deserving right now to be included in the top six,” Gronkowski responded to Kay Adams. “How he can stick with this momentum is by… keep playing at the rate he is playing and producing out there on the field. What's so great is that he's playing football where it's winning football. He's not making plays where he is trying to be a superhero.”
Maye and the Pats host the Atlanta Falcons for Week 9.
