Well, here we are again talking about the MVP race that was headlined between Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. For the first time in his career, Allen was voted as the AP Most Valuable Player of the year in 2024, but Bills Mafia truly knows that Allen is the MVP year-in and year-out.
NFL.com writer Nick Shook ranked all 59 quarterbacks from the 2024 season that started at some point. This list included quarterbacks like Bailey Zappe, Tommy DeVito, Jake Haener, Desmond Ridder, and Trey Lance. Literally any quarterback that started in 2024 was ranked on this list. At the bottom of the list was Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Deshaun Watson at No. 59. Shook also had Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts out of the top-five which is a little surprising.
At the top of the list, Shook gave material for Josh Allen-doubters to use for the rest of this offseason which will be super annoying for Bills fans. Shook ranked Lamar Jackson at No. 1 and has Josh Allen right behind him at No. 2, even though Allen was crowned as the MVP for the season ahead of Jackson.
The factor that has always been used in this conversation between Jackson and Allen is stats. Shook states that “For as excellent as Jackson's 2023 MVP season was, his 2024 campaign was better in almost every category.”
When it came to Allen, Shook made the comment that he believed that Jackson was simply better in 2024 and he took a shot at Allen saying that he looked nervous early on against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game.
Josh Allen-doubters will now use this as nonsense throughout the offseason
Yes, we get it. Jackson had higher stats than Allen, but the whole point of the award is to go to someone that is so valuable that if they were not on their team, that specific team would drop heavily in production and wins. Without Allen, the Bills win no more than 4-5 games this season. Outside of James Cook, who still was in the middle of the pack in terms of rushing yards, the Bills didn’t have anyone dangerous on offense.
If you take Jackson out of Baltimore, sure the Ravens aren’t as dangerous but they still have a future Hall of Fame running back in Derrick Henry in the backfield, as well as tight end Mark Andrews and rising star Zay Flowers.
Let’s not forget that Allen was not only setting franchise records, he was re-writing the history books within the NFL on what seemed like a week-to-week basis. Whether he was throwing touchdowns, rushing for them, or even catching them, Allen was all over the place and was the true MVP for the Bills and the league.