NFL Honors 2026: Matthew Stafford Wins MVP — and the 2025 Season Gets Its Official Stamp

Every NFL season has a “wait…what?” moment, a few “yeah, obviously” awards, and one headline that hijacks the entire night.

At the 2026 NFL Honors (celebrating the 2025 NFL season), that headline belonged to Matthew Stafford, who took home AP NFL Most Valuable Player — a result that instantly turns into the kind of barstool argument that can last until minicamp.

And honestly? That’s what makes NFL Honors fun. It’s not just a trophy show. It’s the league officially telling us: “Here’s how we’re going to remember this year.”

Let’s break down every winner that’s been officially posted, highlight what Stafford’s MVP means, and talk about the ripple effects across the league.

This picture having an invisalign ad at the bottom, with Stafford big ass veneers front and center is hysterical.

The Big One: Matthew Stafford Wins MVP

Stafford’s MVP win is the type of award that makes people immediately do two things at the same time:

1. pull up stats, and

2. yell “BUT WHAT ABOUT—” before they even finish pulling up stats.

Because MVP is never just “best player.” It’s “best player + best story + best season narrative + most valuable in context.” And Stafford clearly won that combination this year.

What makes this peak NFL discourse is that Stafford has lived every version of the QB conversation:

• “He puts up numbers but…”

• “He can’t win the big one…”

• “He’s underrated…”

• “He’s overrated…”

• “Wait, he’s still that guy?”

• “MVP? In THIS economy?”

Whether you think he was your MVP or not, the league just planted a flag: 2025 was the Stafford season. 

The Full 2026 NFL Honors Winners List

Here are the winners that have been clearly published by major outlets / official team or league sources:

AP Awards

• AP MVP: Matthew Stafford

• AP Coach of the Year: Mike Vrabel (Patriots)

• AP Comeback Player of the Year: Christian McCaffrey (49ers)

• AP Offensive Player of the Year: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks)

• AP Defensive Player of the Year: Myles Garrett (Browns)

• AP Offensive Rookie of the Year: Tetairoa McMillan (Panthers)

• AP Defensive Rookie of the Year: Carson Schwesinger (Browns)

• AP Assistant Coach of the Year: Josh McDaniels (Patriots OC)

NFL / Partner Awards

• Protector of the Year: Joe Thuney (Bears)

• FedEx Air & Ground Players of the Year:

  • Drake Maye (QB trophy)

  • Christian McCaffrey (RB trophy)

  • Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR/TE trophy)

• Salute to Service Award (USAA): Christian McCaffrey

• Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award: Budda Baker (Cardinals)

• Deacon Jones Sack Leader Award: Myles Garrett

• Next Gen Stats Moment of the Year: Caleb Williams’ game-winning Hail Mary TD to DJ Moore vs Packers

• NFL Fan of the Year: Edward Callahan (Eagles)

• NFL FLAG Players of the Year: Brysen Wright; Ava Rotondi

• Jim Brown Award: James Cook (Bills)

• Don Shula High School Coach of the Year: Dave Ettinger; Dylen Smith

  
  

Pro Football Hall of Fame: Class of 2026

• Drew Brees

• Larry Fitzgerald

• Luke Kuechly

• Adam Vinatieri

• Roger Craig

Two Notes Where I’m NOT Going to Guess

You asked for every winner, every award, 100% accurate.

Two categories are listed by NFL.com, but at the time of the league’s running winners page capture, the winner names were not shown in the visible text:

• Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year

• NFL Inspire Change Tribute 

I’m not going to fill those in from rumor or social chatter. If you want, paste a link that names the winners (or a screenshot from the broadcast recap), and I’ll plug them into the blog cleanly.

Why Stafford’s MVP Changes the Conversation

This is where the MVP win becomes bigger than one trophy.

1) It reshapes the “MVP = young QB” bias

A lot of modern MVP debates start with, “Which young QB had the cleanest highlight reel?” Stafford winning basically says: production + command + season story still matters — and it can beat the hype cycle.

2) It hardens the legacy case

Stafford’s résumé was already fascinating. But MVPs are like cheat codes in the Hall of Fame debate. They’re shorthand for:“At his peak, he was THE guy.”

3) It makes the offseason louder

Because once an MVP is crowned, every team without an elite QB goes into a spiral:

• “We’re one Stafford away…”

• “We should trade up…”

• “We should gamble on a vet…”

• “We should blow it up…”

The MVP trophy doesn’t just celebrate a season — it starts the next argument.