{"id":457084,"date":"2026-02-06T06:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457084\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:38:07","slug":"matthew-stafford-wins-nfl-mvp-and-vows-to-return-to-rams-next-season-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457084\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew Stafford wins NFL MVP and vows to return to Rams next season | NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Stafford walked away with the NFL<\/a>\u2019s Most Valuable Player award and a declaration that he will return to the Los Angeles Rams for another season.<\/p>\n

Stafford edged Drake Maye for the MVP award on Thursday night in the closest race since Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners in 2003.<\/p>\n

Stafford received 24 of 50 first-place votes while Maye got 23. But Maye has a chance to go home this week with a Vince Lombardi Trophy: he leads the New England Patriots against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Stafford, who turns 38 on Saturday, wants another opportunity to try to win his second Super Bowl ring with the Rams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah, I\u2019ll be back. It was such an amazing season and I play with such a great group of guys and great group of coaches that I was lucky enough to finish this season healthy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stafford brought his four daughters \u2013 dressed in identical black-and-white dresses \u2013 to the stage to accept the award. He thanked his team and saved his wife and daughters for last: \u201cYou\u2019re unbelievable cheerleaders for me. I appreciate it. I am so happy to have you at the games on the sideline with me, and I can\u2019t wait for you to cheer me on next year when we\u2019re out there kicking ass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford led the NFL<\/a> with 4,707 yards passing and 46 TDs. He threw eight picks and finished second to Maye with a 109.2 passer rating. Stafford and the Rams lost to Seattle in the NFC championship game. Maye had 4,394 yards passing, 31 TDs and eight picks. The second-year pro led the league in passer rating (113.5) and completion percentage (72).<\/p>\n

Myles Garrett was a unanimous choice for the Defensive Player of the Year award after setting a season record for sacks with 23. Garrett received all 50 first-place votes to become the ninth player to win DPOY multiple times and second unanimous choice following JJ Watt, who did it in 2014. Cleveland\u2019s edge rusher also was a unanimous All-Pro selection. Garrett previously won the award in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t just start with me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt starts with great teammates, a great organization, great coaches being able to put us in position. I\u2019m thankful for every single one of teammates to help get me up here. It\u2019s not possible without them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seattle\u2019s All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba beat San Francisco\u2019s Christian McCaffrey for the Offensive Player of the Year award. Smith-Njigba caught 119 passes and led the league with 1,793 yards receiving. He also had 10 TDs.<\/p>\n

New England\u2019s Mike Vrabel beat out Jacksonville\u2019s Liam Coen for the Coach of the Year award, becoming the seventh coach to win it with two different teams. Vrabel can get his first Super Bowl title as a head coach on Sunday if the Patriots beat the Seahawks. He led the Patriots from worst to first in the AFC East, a 10-win turnaround in his first season in New England.<\/p>\n

McCaffrey became the first running back to win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award in 24 years. McCaffrey played in just four games in 2024 because of injury. He returned to play every game for the 49ers this season and had 2,126 yards from scrimmage and 17 TDs.<\/p>\n

Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger was a runaway winner for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, while Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was named Offensive Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Stafford walked away with the NFL\u2019s Most Valuable Player award and a declaration that he will return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-457084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}