5 NFL players that will be MVP favorites in 2018

The NFL MVP is the most prestigious single-season individual honor one can win. So, who are the players most likely to win the honor in 2018?

The NFL MVP is awarded every year to honor the player most integral to the team’s success in that given year–even though it’s usually been bestowed upon quarterbacks — with only 17 non-quarterbacks winning the award and 16 by themselves.

It’s a rare feat to win it more than once, as only eight players in league history have won it more than once. Jim Brown is the only non-quarterback to win it more than once, and every eligible player who’s won the award more than once is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In fact, there are very few MVP award winners that won it only once that didn’t get enshrined in Canton.

The MVP can be, then, considered somewhat of a precursor for all-time greatness. Let’s take a look at the men who could be the favorites to win the award in 2018.

5. Ezekiel Elliott

A four-game suspension — and Elliott fighting the matter — is what likely kept the Cowboys from the playoffs. That also wiped any chance of him becoming league MVP away in 2017.

The Dallas Cowboys have an average-at-best receiving core in 2018. So, if they want to even come close to sniffing playing meaningful games in January, they will have to do so on the back of Ezekiel Elliott, like they did in 2016.