Super Bowl 55: Chiefs vs. Buccaneers MVP Favorites and Stat Predictions

Doug Murray/Associated Press

You don't have to break out the trusty crystal ball to know there's a good chance the MVP crowned at Super Bowl LV will play the quarterback position.

For starters, that's how history has often seen this award handed out. Last year, Patrick Mahomes captured the hardware. Two years before that, Nick Foles went home with the coveted award. Prior to that, Tom Brady secured the fourth Super Bowl MVP of his prodigious career.

This quarterback-rich trail of bread crumbs, then, would lead you to believe a signal-caller will once again be recognized as the championship round's most valuable performer. But then once you factor in the quality of quarterbacks on the Kansas City Chiefs (Mahomes) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Brady), it becomes a near-lock.

Saying that, though, anything can happen on any given Sunday—Super Bowl Sunday included. For proof of that, just consider the list of previous winners also includes Malcolm Smith, Dexter Jackson and Larry Brown.

It's not a certainty, in other words, so it's worth gauging the entire field before zeroing in on a few likely recipients. We'll do exactly that by laying out the Super Bowl MVP odds courtesy of NFL" target="_blank">DraftKings Sportsbook, then predicting the final stat lines of a few of the favorites.

Reed Hoffmann/Associated Press

1. Patrick Mahomes, QB, Kansas City Chiefs (-106)

2. Tom Brady, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+210)

3. Tyreek Hill, WR, Kansas City Chiefs (+1200)

4. Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs (+1300)

5. Leonard Fournette, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+2500)

6. Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB, Kansas City Chiefs (+2800)

T-7. Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3000)

T-7. Chris Godwin, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3000)

T-9. Devin White, LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+4000)

T-9. Tyrann Mathieu, SS, Kansas City Chiefs (+4000)

T-9. Darrel Williams, RB, Kansas City Chiefs (+4000)

T-12. Shaquil Barrett, LB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+5000)

T-12. Ronald Jones II, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+5000)

T-12. Mecole Hardman, WR, Kansas City Chiefs (+5000)

15. Antonio Brown, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+6000)

Reed Hoffmann/Associated Press

Patrick Mahomes, the odds-on favorite to recapture the hardware, is the best kind of magician. There might be a way to practically explain what's taking place, but the performance is so impressive you just throw your hands up and enjoy it.

His most memorable moment to date came during last year's championship bout, when he figured out the vaunted San Francisco 49ers defense just in time to help the Chiefs wiggle out of a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit in the final seven minutes. By the time the final buzzer sounded, he had willed Kansas City to a 31-20 triumph.

His numbers in that contest were, by his standards, less than elite. He was sacked four times and intercepted twice, which took some sizzle out of his stat sheet. But for a less-than-perfect day, he still found his way to 286 passing yards and a pair of scores, plus 29 rushing yards and another touchdown.

Tampa Bay's defense is disruptive, but it's not as stacked as San Francisco's was. If Mahomes could grind his way to MVP honors against a dominant defense, he might put on pyrotechnics against the Buccaneers.

Projected stats: 312 passing yards and three touchdowns, 22 rushing yards

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

A Super Bowl MVP is a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment for most of those fortunate enough to experience it, but Brady is different.

He's intimately familiar with this game and this award like no one else. This is (incredibly) Super Bowl No. 10 for the GOAT, and he's left four of them with the MVP award in his suitcase.

He has rarely had this much firepower at the pass-catching positions. The list of potential targets reads like an embarrassment of riches, because that's what it is: Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown and Scotty Miller, not to mention Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones II coming out of the backfield.

Brady has slayed fiercer dragons than Kansas City's defense, and he could be as comfortable as ever given he's the first quarterback to play a Super Bowl in his home stadium. Given the trouble Tampa Bay's defense is likely to have with Mahomes, the onus will fall on Brady to help the Buccaneers keep up. If he goes down, he'll go down swinging with the most powerful punches in his arsenal.

Projected stats: 367 yards and four touchdowns, two interceptions

Orlin Wagner/Associated Press

The idea of Tyreek Hill finding an extra gear is perhaps the most terrifying thing you've ever heard. Or the most terrifying thing the city of Tampa Bay has ever imagined, at least.

Hill is a living, breathing lightning bolt. He's always had blink-and-you'll-miss-him burst, but he's never maximized those turbo jets quite like this. He's not only entering Super Bowl LV scorching hot (17 receptions for 282 yards in two playoff games), he also has the knowledge he has already torched this Tampa Bay defense once this season (13 catches for 269 yards and three scores in late November).

And yet, he might feel he has a little something extra to prove in this contest, since Bucs receiver Scotty Miller said he thinks he's faster than Hill. Miller's own family members might have trouble buying that take.

Perhaps that increases the reach of Hill's odometer, but even if it doesn't, he still has enough zip to race his way to Super Bowl LV MVP honors.

Projected stats: Ten receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown

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