Forget the MVP Odds, Josh Allen is the Best Player in the NFL

The Buffalo Bills may not win the AFC East this season, and quarterback Josh Allen may not earn his second straight NFL MVP award. During Sunday's comeback win over the New England Patriots, however, Allen showed what many fans have long known.

There isn't a better player in the NFL right now.

Allen did what he's been doing since early in his Buffalo career, essentially willing the Bills back from a 21-0 deficit to beat the white-hot Patriots and MVP favorite Drake Maye. Allen rushed for 48 yards, threw three touchdowns passes, and recorded the 17th fourth-quarter comeback of his career.

Maye, meanwhile, had a chance to record the first fourth-quarter comeback of his career on Sunday and fell short.

New England still holds a one-game lead in the AFC East and will probably still win the division. However, Buffalo will remain a massive playoff threat in the AFC as long as Allen is healthy. One could argue that the Bills are only playoff contenders because Allen is as special as he is.

Who is More Valuable?

This year's NFL MVP race has felt like an odd one for most of the season. While the front-runner often becomes the quarterback of the league's hottest team. For most of this year, it's been a two-man race between Maye and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Stafford remains the front-runner at -300 (bet $300 to win $100), according to DraftKings Sportsbook, while Maye is the second-favorite (+425). Allen (+550) ranks third, while Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is a relative long shot at +7500.

Nix is the quarterback of arguably the NFL's best team, but there have been points in 2025 where it's felt like the Broncos have won in spite of him, not because of him—though his four-touchdown performance against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday was certainly impressive.

Maye and Stafford have both been great, but they're also surrounded by supreme talent.

The Patriots rank seventh in both scoring and scoring defense, and Maye hasn't really been asked to carry the team. Stafford has been asked to deliver victory this season—he notched his 39th fourth-quarter comeback in Week 4—but he's gotten to throw to Puka Nacua and Davante Adams while benefiting from the league's third-ranked scoring defense.

Allen has had the support of James Cook and a strong running game, but little else. Buffalo has the league's 17th-ranked scoring defense and a decidedly average receiving corps led by Khalil Shakir and tight ends Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox.

With all due respect to Shakir and Co., Allen often has to buy time in the pocket in order for his receivers to create separation. Yet, he has regularly made the sort of awe-inspiring plays that few other quarterbacks would even attempt.

Of course, Allen is equally impressive as a runner. He can hurt a defense when plays break down or on designed runs. At times, he seems virtually indefensible in short-yardage and goal-line situations.

Offensively, no one is doing more with less this season. One might argue that Myles Garrett's 21.5-sack season with the three-win Cleveland Browns is even more astonishing than Allen's campaign, but Garrett isn't dragging the Browns into the playoffs.

It's hard to believe that anyone has been "more valuable" than Allen this season.

Allen's Season Has Been MVP-Worthy

Award voters love a good story, which is why Allen may not have a great chance of repeating as the league MVP. Maye is the fresh new face of the NFL's quarterback club, while Stafford is long overdue for a career-appreciation award.

We're not suggesting that Stafford and Maye aren't deserving of MVP consideration, but Allen's performance this season has been MVP-worthy.

In some ways, Allen has been even more impressive than he was a year ago, when he was named MVP. The 29-year-old has a higher passer rating (104.3) than he did in 2024 (101.4), and he's completing a higher percentage of his passes (70 percent versus 63.6 percent in 2024). He's less than 500 passing yards away from last year's season-long total and only three passing touchdowns away from last year's mark.

Allen already has more rushing yards than he had last season, is running at a more efficient clip (5.5 yards per carry versus 5.2 YPC in 2024), and has equaled last season's 12 rushing touchdowns.

Along the way, the three-time Pro Bowler has notched some career milestones. During the November win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Allen became the first player to record three rushing and three passing touchdowns in multiple games.

On Sunday, Allen recorded his sixth season with 35 or more combined passing and rushing touchdowns.

Allen's season has been very reminiscent of Lamar Jackson's 2024 campaign. The two-time MVP was better in many statistical categories than he was during his 2023 MVP run. However, he never seemed to garner serious MVP buzz because the Baltimore Ravens weren't quite as dominant as they were the previous season and because Allen was the newer and better story.

Now, Allen may fall short of winning the MVP for similar reasons, but he certainly hasn't fallen off from his MVP-level of play.

Allen Should Have Loftier Goals Anyway

MVP awards look great on an individual resume, but they rarely show up in the team record books. Allen has a legitimate chance to carry the Bills to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1993 and, quite possibly, their first Super Bowl victory in franchise history.

The path is as wide open for the Bills as it's been during the Allen era.

Allen just proved that he can go into New England and knock off the Patriots in wintery conditions. There's little reason to think that he couldn't also carry Buffalo to victory against the Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, or Pittsburgh Steelers.

Again, Denver might be the best team in football, but few are likely to argue that the Broncos are far and away better than the Patriots.

Since Buffalo began its run of AFC East dominance in 2020, Allen has only fallen to two quarterbacks in the playoffs—Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. The Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals were both eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday.

The Bills should very much feel like they're racing toward a playoff field that won't contain their kryptonite. Allen, Buffalo's proverbial Superman, should be looking past a second MVP and toward a Lombardi Trophy.

Is Buffalo one of the three or four best teams in the NFL? No. We've already covered that. The Bills do have the league's best player, though, and that's enough to consider championship expectations realistic.