Since 1957, the NFL has given out the Associated Press MVP Award to the best player in the league. The award has been handed out to some worthy players in the past, but there have been many occasions of the committee just simply getting it wrong.
It is hard to believe that names like Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald and Jerry Rice have never won an MVP award with their Hall of Fame careers. Looking back on the past MVP awards, it is easy to pick a player that was more deserving. Let’s take a look at the top ten NFL players never to win an MVP award.
Honorable Mention: Otto Graham, 1947
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5FEUeDaCeA
Otto Graham is an innovative quarterback that had a huge impact on the NFL and the passing game. Unfortunately, he played in the NFL before the Associated Press started handing out the MVP award. He never got the distinction of being the MVP because of this, but he most certainly would have had it existed during his playing days.
Graham arguably could have won the award in multiple seasons throughout his Hall of Fame career, but the 1947 season was exceptionally special. He led the NFL in literally every passing category possible with 2,753 yards and 25 touchdowns, both league records at the time. Those two stats are more than enough to say that he likely would have been named MVP in 1947.
10. Warren Moon, 1990
Warren Moon broke barriers in the NFL, becoming the first African-American quarterback to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006. That means he must have had some MVP worthy seasons throughout his career.
This was exactly the case in 1990 when he led the league in passing completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns. His near 4,700 yards were astronomically better than the actual MVP Joe Montana, who failed to eclipse 4,000 yards on the year. What was even more impressive was that Moon threw for over 300 yards nine times that season, tying Dan Marino’s 1987 record.
Moon had a phenomenal career in both the NFL and the Canadian Football League, where he spent six years and won five Grey Cups before finally signing with the Houston Oilers in 1984. He was certainly deserving of the honor at some point in his career and 1990 should have been his year.
9. Tony Dorsett, 1978
Tony Dorsett is the first of several former Dallas Cowboys on this list to be snubbed of this award. The amazing thing about Dorsett was how early in his career he showed how deserving he was of the NFL MVP award.
After an impressive rookie year in 1977 with over 1,000 yards on the ground and a career-high 12 touchdowns, Dorsett could only go up. In his second year in the league, he rushed for over 1,300 yards and seven touchdowns while catching 37 passes for 378 yards and two scores.
These numbers were more than impressive and many argue that his season was better than Terry Bradshaw’s. The Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback threw for just under 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns, but also opened up a stretch of three seasons with at least 20 interceptions thrown. Dorsett ran all over opponents during the 1978 season and he should have been rewarded for his incredible season.
8. Troy Aikman, 1992
Many would probably say that Troy Aikman was only as good a quarterback as he was because of who surrounded him during his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys. However, the 1992 season was arguably his best throughout his career. He threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 23 touchdowns.
While those numbers aren’t nearly as impressive as Steve Young, who also rushed for over 500 yards that same season, Aikman was only a handful of close games in the 13 he won with the Cowboys that year. He helped his team dominate opponents on their way to a third Lombardi Trophy.
Aikman has been inducted into the Hall of Fame and rightfully so. Throughout his career, he captained a Super Bowl team three times and will be forever remembered as one of the greatest Dallas Cowboys in history.
7. Randy Moss, 2007
This is a case of where one teammate should have been awarded the trophy over another. It is hard to take away from what Tom Brady did with the 16-0 New England Patriots in 2007 after he threw for a, at the time, NFL record 50 touchdowns. However, nearly half of those touchdowns were caught by Randy Moss.
Moss caught 23 touchdowns in 2007, a feat that will arguably never happen again. While many believed no one would throw for better than 50 touchdowns in a year at the time, it has happened since that year. Moss made plays that no other receiver could and Brady would have not even come close to half a hundred without The Freak in the lineup.
Randy Moss had many NFL MVP worthy seasons throughout his career, but in 2007 at 30 years old, this should have been his time.
6. Jerry Rice, 1989
While Randy Moss might have a NFL MVP worthy season in 2007, Jerry Rice did it years before Moss was even thought of in the NFL. Much like Moss with Tom Brady, Rice should have won the 1989 NFL MVP over teammate Steve Young.
Many might think Rice should have won the award in 1987, when he set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a season with 22, a record that stood for 20 years. However, in 1989, he led the league in both receiving yards and touchdowns. He, like Moss, was the main reason Young won MVP that year.
Rice still leads the NFL in just about every career receiving record possible and there’s probably no way anyone will ever catch him. In 1989, he should have won the MVP after an improbable season.
5. Gale Sayers, 1966
Gale Sayers will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest return men in the history of the NFL and possibly the greatest to ever suit up for the Chicago Bears. Though short, his career was filled with memorable moments, specifically the 1966 season.
While the Bears finished 5-7-2 that year, Sayers was heralded as the one bright spot for Chicago. He rushed for a league-high 1,231 yards and eight touchdowns while returning two kickoffs for touchdowns and leading the league with 2,440 all-purpose yards for the second straight season. The one thing that hurt him against Bart Starr, the 1966 MVP, was his team’s overall record as the Green Bay Packers finished 11-2 and won the Super Bowl and the Bears missed the playoffs for the third straight year.
It is believable that the Bears would have finished that season with far less than five wins in 1966 had Sayers not carried the team. If that doesn’t scream MVP honors, nothing ever will.
4. Jim Kelly, 1991
Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly is no doubt deserving of his Hall of Fame stature as he took the team from the depths of the league to one of the most dominant teams in history to never win the Super Bowl. The Bills had only made the playoffs twice in the 11 years before Kelly joined the team and in his stretch, he took the team to eight postseason appearances and four straight AFC championships.
The year that set the Bills’ dominance in motion was not the 1990 season, the first of four straight Super Bowl appearances, but the following year. Not only did Thurman Thomas, the 1991 MVP, rack up over 2,000 total yards and and 12 touchdowns, but Kelly threw for a league-high 33 touchdowns and career-high 3,844 yards.
Either one of those players would have been deserving of the MVP award, but looking back Kelly should have been given the honor. He was the catalyst for success in most of the team’s wins throughout the year and was a big reason why they finished with a franchise record 13 wins.
3. Roger Staubach, 1979
Yet another Dallas Cowboy on this list and he is quite possibly the most deserving. Roger Staubach had an impressive 1979 season when he threw for a career high 3,586 yards and 27 touchdowns. He also did this all at the ripe age of 37.
While that may not seem like a lot with quarterbacks playing at peak performance into their 40s in today’s NFL, it was quite impressive during the late 1970s. Staubach was burning defenses in what was quite possibly the best season by a Cowboys quarterback and he could have easily played a few more seasons had it not been for his history with concussions.
He will easily go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and it is a shame he never won a MVP. There is no doubt that he was on the cusp of doing so had he not put his health in the front seat. It is certainly a good thing that he did.
2. Drew Brees, 2011
Drew Brees is the only player on this list that has a great shot at still winning the MVP with an impressive 2018 season already happening. However, he should already have one in the books. In 2011, he became the first quarterback with multiple 5,000-yard seasons and broke Dan Marino’s nearly three-decade old single season passing yards record with 5,476.
Peyton Manning broke Brees’s record by one yard in 2013 and won MVP and Offensive Player of the Year. Brees broke Marino’s record by nearly 400 yards and was snubbed in favor of Aaron Rodgers. While Rodgers was deserving of his MVP with over 4,600 yards and 45 touchdowns against six interceptions, Brees broke a 27-year-old record that no one believed would ever happen again.
This could all be rectified this year if Brees is awarded MVP, but for now it is an egregious mistake on behalf of the Associated Press.
1. Eric Dickerson, 1984
But if there was ever a huge mistake, it is what happened to Eric Dickerson in 1984. Yes, his record-breaking season coincided with Dan Marino’s record season and that is unfortunate. In retrospect, it is easy to go back and say that Dickerson was more deserving than Marino that year or you could have even given the award to both players.
However, in today’s pass-happy league, Marino’s record has been broken six times. Adrian Peterson was the closest to Dickerson’s record 2,105 yards in 2012. Even with Dickerson losing the award in 1984, he had another impressive season in 1988 with 1,659 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground.
One of the greatest running backs in NFL history, Dickerson had ample chances to win the MVP award. It is a pure shame that he wasn’t given the honor at some point in his storied career.
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