Last season, the NFL enjoyed a running back renaissance. Derrick Henry ran for 1,921 yards and a league-best 16 touchdowns for the Ravens. Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley transformed the Eagles’ offense, providing a historic regular season (averaging a stunning 125.3 rushing yards per game to become the ninth member of the 2,000-yard club) and transcendent postseason (adding 499 ground yards and five touchdowns en route to the Lombardi Trophy). And yet, neither RB received even one first-place vote for league MVP. Barkley, who got one second-place nod, finished third overall in the voting, well behind the winner (Josh Allen) and runner-up (Lamar Jackson). Barkley and wideout Ja’Marr Chase, who achieved the receiving triple crown, were the only non-quarterbacks to finish in the top 11. That wasn’t surprising — the last non-QB to win the award was running back Adrian Peterson in 2012.
Alas, the MVP is very much a quarterbacking award now — and mostly, it’s hard to quibble with that. No single player on any team impacts the outcome of games week in and week out more than the quarterback, although Barkley’s performance was certainly worthy of the conversation it generated last season. Needless to say, the top signal-callers in the league — Allen, Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow — are the favorites to take home the hardware this season and will likely get strong consideration every season in which they are healthy.
Not all quarterbacks are created equal, though, and some of them fall into the dark-horse category of contenders, along with a handful of their non-QB contemporaries.
Here’s an early look, in alphabetical order, at those early dark horses to receive serious consideration for the top individual award in 2025.
