NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Josh Allen edged two-time winner Lamar Jackson for the AP NFL Most Valuable Player award in the closest race since Matt Ryan beat out Tom Brady in 2016.
Buffalo’s quarterback is the third Bills player in history to win MVP, following running backs O.J. Simpson in 1975 and Thurman Thomas in 1991. Allen was an MVP finalist in three of the previous four seasons, placing as the runner-up in 2020.
Allen also received the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award that was announced by former Bills quarterback and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, and Allen shared the FedEx Air & Ground Player of the Year award with Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
After acknowledging the other MVP finalists, Allen thanked Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula, along with general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott.
“Thank you guys for drafting me seven and a half years ago,” Allen said in his acceptance speech. “It feels just like yesterday, it really does. This is an individual award, and it says most valuable player on it, but I think it’s derived by team success.”
Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins introduced Allen as a finalist and excitedly announced his victory along with two-time MVP quarterback Kurt Warner.
Dawkins, who was nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, said “it’s my honor to protect Josh Allen’s blind side. You want Josh on your team, and not just because to game-plan against him. Josh is a great leader, a great teammate, and most importantly, a great dude.”
“D Dawk, thank you for presenting. I really appreciate it,” Allen said. “We’ve got such a great locker room in Buffalo. And it takes everybody, from the equipment staff, to the training room, to the strength staff, slick Rick in the mail room, to the cafeteria upstairs. It truly takes everybody to have team success. And I’m so fortuante to be part of a great organization.
Bills safety Damar Hamlin placed fourth in NFL Comeback Player of the Year voting, with three first-place votes, and offensive coordinator Joe Brady was fifth in Assistant Coach of the Year balloting. McDermott was seventh in Coach of the Year voting.
The 28-year-old Allen has become one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks and set many of Buffalo’s single-season and career passing and scoring records since being selected in the first round of the 2018 draft out of Wyoming. In leading the Bills to the AFC championship game, Allen threw for 3,731 yards, 28 TDs and had six picks for a 101.4 passer rating. He ran for 531 yards and 12 scores, becoming the first player in NFL history to have five consecutive seasons with at least 40 total touchdowns.
“Over the last seven years, Josh has led the Bills nation, put an entire city on his back, from the moment he entered the league, he was tremendous,” Dawkins said. “But speaking as someone who was in the trenches with him, I think he just had his best season yet.”
In the MVP voting that was as close as the divisional playoff game between their teams, Allen got 27 first-place votes to Jackson’s 23 and finished with 383 points. He received 22 second-place votes and one third.
Jackson, who led the Ravens to a second straight AFC North championship, got 26 second-place votes and one fourth for a total of 362 points. Jackson had career-highs with 4,172 yards passing, 41 TDs to just four interceptions and a 119.6 passer rating, which led the NFL. He got 30 first-place votes to Allen’s 18 to earn AP first-team All-Pro honors.
The last time a first-team All-Pro didn’t win the NFL MVP award was 1987. John Elway was the MVP that season and Joe Montana was first-team All-Pro. The MVP award is given to a player who had the most valuable season while All-Pro is a statistical recognition.
The Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, voted on by NFL players during Pro Bowl balloting after an NFL Legends Community panel selected eight finalists, acknowledges on-field sportsmanship, including fair play, respect for the game and opponents and integrity in competition.
Allen and his fiancee Hailee Steinfeld were all smiles as they posed for pictures and mingled with celebrities as they walked the red carpet at the NFL Honors.
The couple posted a photo to their Instagram followers in November of Allen on one knee proposing marriage. Allen and Steinfeld were first linked in the spring of 2023, when they were photographed dining together in New York City. Steinfeld has since begun attending Bills home games, and the couple hosted a Halloween party this fall.
The 27-year-old Steinfeld is from Los Angeles and began her acting career at age 10. She earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her role as Mattie Ross in the Coen brothers’ 2010 remake of “True Grit.” She also received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the 2016 high school dramedy “The Edge of Seventeen.” Her other credits include “Bumblebee,” “Dickinson” and Marvel’s “Hawkeye,” along with voice roles in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and its sequel.
WIVB digital sports reporter Jonah Bronstein contributed reporting from Buffalo, N.Y.