Travis Hunter and dark-horse NFL MVP candidates fans should get on their radar early

With Patrick Mahomes’ injury timeline unclear, this year’s NFL MVP race figures to be at least moderately interesting. Since 2018, only Mahomes, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson and Matthew Stafford have won the award, representing the NFL’s elite class of quarterbacks but also not representing anything remotely fun. “Oh Josh Allen won his second MVP in 2026.” Cool, dude, no one cares.

So I’m here to provide some fun with five dark horse contenders. Some rules: the player cannot have won an MVP already, excluding all of the above (even though Rodgers snagging his fourth MVP in the retirement tour would be pretty dark horsey), nor can they be in the Top 10 of FanDuel’s preseason MVP odds; thus excluding Drake Maye, Joe Burrow, Dak Prescott, Caleb Williams, Jordan Love and Justin Herbert. Remember these are dark horses, none of these are particularly likely to happen. We cool? Cool. Now let’s have some fun!

1. Brock Purdy 

FanDuel MVP Odds: +2000

“Winning” may or may not be a quarterback stat, but it’s definitely a stat when it comes to MVP voting. There wasn’t much of a numbers case for Drake Maye to be MVP last season over Matthew Stafford, who lit up the stat sheet in 2026, but Maye’s division-leading 14-3 record got the race as tight as it possibly could have been. And among quarterbacks who have started at least 40 games, Purdy trails only Mahomes, Jackson, Allen and Jalen Hurts in career winning percentage. 

Purdy, a former Mr. Irrelevant, has been a divisive player; some designate him a Kyle Shanahan-merchant, others simply a system quarterback with decent tools but irrelevant when removed from his Death Star of surrounding playmakers. There’s a kernel of truth in everything, but I have enough other kernels to fill a commemorative popcorn bucket with reasons that Purdy is actually a good quarterback capable of winning the MVP award. He has a fourth place finish under his belt already, has shown repeatedly that he is capable of running an NFL offense without any frills and has a track record of putting up serious stats needed to win MVP awards. I like Purdy this year. 

2. Bo Nix

FanDuel MVP Odds: +3300

Speaking of winning, if I removed the totally-meant-to-exclude-Bo-Nix minimum of 40 games on the winning percentage list, Nix actually only trails Mahomes and Jackson with 34 career starts. He plays on a stacked roster that snagged the one seed in the AFC last year and spent the offseason saying “let’s just run it back,” a provocative stance in a field that just loaded up in free agency and in the trade market. Still, Nix seems poised to captain a 14-ish win team once again.

His 2025 numbers scream of a player ready to backdoor an MVP if a few injuries lighten up the field. He led the league in pass attempts last season and has a shiny new weapon in Jaylen Waddle. If he can keep his interceptions down while running up the score on weaker opponents, I could see Nix making something happen.

3. Jahmyr Gibbs

FanDuel MVP Odds: +8000

What is functionally required for a running back to win the MVP award? It hasn’t happened since 2012, when Adrian Peterson amassed over 2300 yards from scrimmage and 13 total touchdowns on 131 yards per game. But he only won the award because it was a weak year for quarterbacks. Drew Brees, Matthew Stafford and Tony Romo were the league’s leading passers, none of whom had a winning record. That made Peterson’s runway perfect. Can Gibbs get a similar situation?

With Gibbs sharing touches with the weakest running mate of his career in Isiah Pacheco and benefiting from an extra game that record-holders didn’t have, there is a chance Gibbs could erupt for some ridiculous numbers this year in an offense that continues to lean on him. But it would have to be supernovic for him to actually win the MVP award—I'm talking 2500+ all-purpose yards, 20+ touchdowns, some stuff we’ve just never seen before. Because unless it’s something we’ve never seen, it’s just impossible to justify saying a non-QB is the “most valuable player” in football. That’s just almost never true.

4. Travis Hunter

FanDuel MVP Odds: +17500

Now we’re in the deep bag of pulls. Travis Hunter is not going to win the 2026 MVP award, but he is the only “defensive player” who I can even conceive of winning the award, something that hasn’t happened since Lawrence Taylor in 1986. Think Shohei Ohtani but in football—he doesn’t have to be the best hitter or pitcher (though he frequently is … listen the comp isn’t perfect) he just has to be good at both, and he can win the MVP. 

We will need theoretical maximum Travis Hunter to achieve this longest of long shot bets, since he will need to be elite on one side of the ball and at least really good on the other to justify this. Tons of interceptions plus 1000 yards receiving, and we can start having the conversation. It would require him to play more snaps than any player in the history of football, a role I’m not even sure the Jacksonville Jaguars will want him to play. But it would be sick. 

5. Malik Willis

FanDuel MVP Odds: +12500

Fun fact: Malik Willis led all quarterbacks in EPA per play last season. By like … a lot. Super ultra-small sample size, but it led to investing a lot of money in him this offseason around a roster that has … not a whole lot else going on. Around half of their salary cap next year is going to players that literally aren’t on the team, so Willis will get all the credit if the Dolphins are anything above “abjectly terrible.” 

This is the darkest room we could possibly take a shot in the dark in, but if Malik Willis drags a derelict Miami roster to be like … 12-5? I mean we’d be discussing it if nothing else. Every player with lower odds is just a joke—I'm happy to book everyone’s Myles Garrett 175-1 tickets; he just set the sack record and got zero MVP votes. Save for a Travis Hunter full-court shot, Willis is the lowest I’m going.

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