For the better part of the past two decades, the NFL MVP has been an award for whichever quarterback produces the league's best season on one of the best teams. Since 2001, 21 of the past 24 MVP awards have gone to quarterbacks with three exceptions: 2005 (Shaun Alexander), 2006 (LaDainian Tomlinson) and 2012 (Adrian Peterson).
While all three are running backs, it took extraordinary years from them to unseat any potential passers as the MVP winner: Alexander led the league in rushing, Tomlinson set a record for total touchdowns in a season and Peterson rushed for over 2,000 yards fresh off a torn ACL in the previous year. There could be a new running back contender for the MVP award, as Jonathan Taylor is on the rise in the latest edition of FanSided's NFL Stock Watch.
NFL Week 9 Stock Watch: Risers
Jonathan Taylor's MVP Candidacy
While Daniel Jones is getting all the headlines for his strong season in Indianapolis, anyone who watches Colts' games will tell you that the key to their success is a massive year from Taylor. After a few injury-plagued years, Taylor appeared in 14 games last season and rushed for over 1,400 yards, setting the stage for what could be an iconic 2025 campaign.
Over the Colts' first eight games, Taylor has rushed for 850 yards and 12 touchdowns, racking up a ridiculous 5.9 yards per carry, while adding 27 receptions for 206 yards and two more scores. Indianapolis owns the best record in the league largely on the back of Taylor, and if they can run out to a 14-3 type of season, it would be hard to deny him MVP honors in a year when the traditional powerhouses under center aren't standing out.
Denver Broncos
It hasn't always been pretty, but the Denver Broncos are getting the job done. After a tough 1-2 start to the season, Denver has ripped off five straight wins to seize control of first place in the AFC West, tying the Patriots for the longest active winning streak in the league.
The Broncos' defense has been smothering, holding the high-powered Cowboys' attack to just 22 points on Sunday, while Bo Nix has leveled up over the past two weeks with six touchdown passes against just one pick. There are still tough times ahead for Denver, including a pair of games with the Kansas City Chiefs and a huge Week 18 rematch with the Chargers, but they have put themselves in an excellent position to host their first playoff game in a decade.
Drake Maye
Patriots' fans have it good. After only a few years of wandering through the mediocre quarterback wasteland, New England appears to have its franchise guy in the post-Tom Brady era, as Drake Maye has delivered dynamic results in his second year as the starter.
The arrival of Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels as his coaches has unlocked more efficiency from Maye, who heard MVP chants at Gillette Stadium on Sunday when he dismantled an impressive Browns' defense, completing 18-of-24 passes for 282 yards with three touchdowns despite being under constant pressure from Myles Garrett, who sacked him five times. Maye's ascension into a potential star is bad news for the Buffalo Bills, who had been ruling the AFC East unopposed since Brady retired, and the rest of the league as New England appears to be a force yet again.
NFL Week 9 Stock Watch: Fallers
Washington Commanders
It certainly feels like 2025 is slipping away from the Commanders, who dropped their third straight game with a 28-7 loss in Kansas City on Monday night. Jayden Daniels missed the game with a hamstring injury as the latest Commander to hit the sideline, testing the depth of an organization that traded away a slew of draft picks to add win-now veterans like Marshon Lattimore, Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel over the past few months.
Perhaps we should have been more concerned about Washington's ability to sustain success, since they were the kings of one-score victories a year ago. That kind of luck usually regresses to the mean, and with a brutal schedule (three of their next four games are against Seattle, Detroit and Denver) looming, there's a good chance this could be the year when Washington takes a step back to go two steps forward in 2026.
Minnesota's QB Decisions
It's not often that a team has the opportunity to let two potential MVP candidates walk out of its building in the same year, but the Minnesota Vikings did just that over the winter. While everyone is aware of their understandable choice to let Sam Darnold walk after his poor finish to the season, not everyone remembers that Daniel Jones was also in their building at the end of the year as the backup quarterback, getting a crash course in the offense before going to Indianapolis for a clearer path to the starting job.
While those two have their teams sitting at a combined 12-3 this season, Minnesota has gone just 3-4 with Carson Wentz struggling mightily before landing on IR this week. J.J. McCarthy, who looked overwhelmed in his first two games as a pro, is now getting another extended look under center as the Vikings threaten to waste a prime year of Justin Jefferson and their elite defense because of poor decision-making process at the game's most important position.
Pittsburgh Steelers
While Pittsburgh is still in the lead of the AFC North, the past two weeks have done significant damage to any ideas that this team is much different than the past five years of Steelers' teams. Losing the Icy Hot Bowl to Cincinnati aged poorly after the Bengals were beaten by the winless Jets on Sunday, but the more bitter pill is the fact Pittsburgh didn't look like they belonged on the same field as the Green Bay Packers in Aaron Rodgers' non-revenge game that turned into a 10-point loss.
Mike Tomlin's teams have usually beaten up on bad teams and struggled against the best, which looks like another recipe for a 9-8 or 10-7 type year that leads to an early playoff exit. The AFC North isn't even a sure thing for Pittsburgh at this point since they are only a game and a half up on Cincinnati, which has a head-to-head win on them, and two on Baltimore, who they have yet to play and should be getting Lamar Jackson back from a hamstring injury on Thursday.