1 head-scratching vote kept Lamar Jackson from unanimous MVP honors

Only two players have won the NFL MVP Award unanimously: Tom Brady in 2010 and Lamar Jackson in 2019.

On Thursday night, the Baltimore Ravens quarterback came one vote shy of making history as the only two-time unanimous MVP winner. And that one vote was a head-scratcher and a half.

Jackson nabbed 49 first-place votes and a third-place vote. Whoever voted him in third place gave Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen his lone first-place vote.

Lamar Jackson denied unaimous NFL MVP Award by one vote for Josh Allen

That vote for Allen was so out of left field that Brock Purdy still finished ahead of him in overall voting. Allen was ranked fifth behind Jackson, Dak Prescott, Christian McCaffrey and Purdy.

Every voter casts their ballot based on their unique judgment. It's just difficult to conceive of the reasoning behind putting Allen ahead of Jackson, let alone putting Jackson third behind Allen and another unknown player.

UPDATE: The Josh Allen voter has been revealed as Aaron Schatz of FTN Fantasy.

If the voter wanted to give an MVP nod to a running back like McCaffrey, a wide receiver like Tyreek Hill or repped for defensive players around the league with a nod to Myles Garrett, then it might have made sense. But what has Allen done this year to truly deserve that first-place vote?

Jackson led the Ravens to the No. 1 seed in the AFC. He threw 24 touchdowns to Allen's 29 touchdown but had less than half as many interceptions with seven compared to 19. Jackson's passer rating of 102.7 was better than Allen's 92.2. He also racked up 821 rushing yards while Allen had 524.

Maybe it was rushing touchdowns that convinced the voter to put Allen ahead. The Bills QB had 15 while Jackson only managed five.

No offense to Allen, but he wasn't as big of a playmaker as Jackson this year. And both of them ultimately lost to Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs, so judging either for their inability to get to the Super Bowl doesn't break any ties.

Jackson was a shoo-in for the MVP, so whoever cast that vote knew what they were doing. And they were successful in denying Jackson his unanimous status, for whatever dubious reason.