With the Ravens in Buffalo to take on the Bills on Sunday Night Football, the NFL’s two most recent Most Valuable Players will be on the same field. That’s only the fifth time ever that the last two MVPs have faced off in Week One.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen was the MVP of the 2024 regular season, and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was MVP in 2023. Last year they met once in the regular season (Jackson and the Ravens won) and once in the playoffs (Allen and the Bills won). This year the winner will likely be the early-season betting favorite to win the Super Bowl, and the winning quarterback will likely be the early-season betting favorite to win another league MVP.
The two most recent MVPs also squared off in Week One last year, when Allen and the Ravens faced Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Previously, the two most recent reigning MVPs played in Week One in 2000 (Terrell Davis’s Broncos against Kurt Warner’s Rams), 1998 (Brett Favre’s Packers against Barry Sanders’ Lions), and 1980 (Terry Bradshaw’s Steelers against Earl Campbell’s Houston Oilers).
