Super Bowl 60 between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks is set to crown a new champion, and with it comes one of the most coveted individual honors in sports: the Super Bowl MVP Award.
While quarterbacks have dominated the award in recent years, winning 12 of the last 16, smart bettors know there's value to be found beyond the obvious choices.
With the Seahawks favored and Sam Darnold carrying short odds, let's explore alternative MVP candidates that offer better value.
Best Super Bowl 60 MVP Bet: Drake Maye (+240 at BetMGM)
The NFL regular-season Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award has become a quarterback award.
The Super Bowl’s MVP Award hasn’t quite reached that level, but it’s not a far cry from it.
Jalen Hurts (2024) and Patrick Mahomes (2022 and 2023) have won the previous three Super Bowl MVP Awards as the quarterback of the Super Bowl Champion, and Mahomes also won the award for the Super Bowl Champion Chiefs in 2019.
Seven of the last nine Super Bowl MVPs have been the game’s winning quarterback.
Moreover, the winning quarterback has claimed the hardware in 12 of the previous 16 Super Bowls.
Sadly, the oddsmakers understand the likelihood of a quarterback winning the award, sapping most of the value from betting on Sam Darnold to capture the honor for the favored Seahawks.
However, as long as Drake Maye’s odds to win the Super Bowl MVP Award are longer than New England’s moneyline odds, gamblers who plan to bet the Patriots moneyline can allocate some of that wager to Maye winning Super Bowl MVP.
Maye has eaten 15 sacks, thrown 2 interceptions, lost 3 fumbles, and averaged only 177.7 passing yards per game in the playoffs.
Nevertheless, Maye has made crucial plays with his legs, and his superb regular season demonstrated his excellence.
According to Sumer Sports, among quarterbacks with 100 snaps in the regular season, Maye was first in total expected points added (169.96 EPA), first in EPA per play (0.26), first in passing EPA (159.80), and 14th in rushing EPA (10.16).
If the dual-threat wunderkind from the regular season shows up and leads the Patriots to an upset victory in the Super Bowl, he’ll almost certainly be the game’s MVP.
Best Super Bowl 60 MVP Bet: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (+550 at DraftKings)
Cooper Kupp was the last non-quarterback to win the Super Bowl MVP, doing so for the Rams in 2021.
The second-most recent non-quarterback to win the Super Bowl MVP was Julian Edelman in 2018.
Matthew Stafford completed 26 of 40 passes for 283 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions against the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
Kupp had 1 incomplete pass, a 7-yard run, 10 targets, 8 receptions, 92 receiving yards, and 2 receiving touchdowns, one of which was the game-winning score.
Kupp’s receiving yardage accounted for 32.5% of Stafford’s passing yardage, and he caught 2 of Stafford’s 3 touchdown passes.
The Rams also couldn’t generate much on the ground, with Cam Akers’ 21 rushing yards pacing the Rams and no one else reaching double digits.
Kupp was an integral piece of LA’s Super Bowl victory, but no one would have batted an eyelash at Stafford winning the Super Bowl MVP.
Still, Kupp’s large share of the passing game’s production and sequencing of his touchdowns, with the final securing the win for the Rams, earned him the honor.
Edelman’s Super Bowl LIII MVP Award was earned in a 13-3 victory.
Sony Michel scored the game’s only touchdown in a defensive slugfest.
Meanwhile, Edelman had a 34.3% target share, 10 receptions, 141 receiving yards, and an 8-yard rush.
His receiving yardage accounted for a blistering 53.8% of Tom Brady’s 262 passing yards.
Brady didn’t have a banner day, and the low-scoring contest opened the door for Edelman to secure the MVP with his massive receptions and yardage output.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba barbecued the Rams for 10 receptions, 153 receiving yards, and 1 receiving touchdown on 12 targets in the NFC Championship Game.
According to the Fantasy Points data suite, among 130 players with at least 250 routes in the regular season, JSN was second in air yards (1,794), first in air yards share (49.1%), first in target share (32.6%), second in targets per route run (0.33 TPRR), second in receiving yards per game (105.5), first in team receiving yardage market share (44.1%), second in yards per route run (3.74), and tied for sixth in receiving touchdowns (10).
The third-year pro was Seattle’s passing game in the regular season, and he was a monster in the NFC Championship Game shootout.
LA’s passing game in 2021 went through Kupp, and Seattle’s this year goes through JSN.
Seattle’s top-shelf defense could also make this a low-scoring Super Bowl, ala the 2018 Super Bowl when Edelman won the award.
Smith-Njigba offers gamblers much more bang for their buck than betting on Darnold to win the game’s MVP, especially since Darnold would likely need to have a big game using the team’s ancillary options to earn the award over JSN.
Longshot Super Bowl 60 MVP Bet: Marcus Jones (+10000 at FanDuel)
Only one non-quarterback or wideout has won a Super Bowl MVP in the last 10 years, two have done so in the past 20 years, and four have done so in the last 25 years.
All of those non-quarterbacks or wideouts were defenders.
A running back hasn’t won the Super Bowl MVP since Terrell Davis did in 1997.
Don’t waste money betting on a running back.
Circling back to defenders, Von Miller, Malcolm Smith, Dexter Jackson, and Ray Lewis are the defenders who’ve won Super Bowl MVPs since 2000.
Miller’s Broncos beat the Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50, Smith’s Seahawks stomped the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII, Jackson’s Buccaneers squashed the Raiders 48-21, and Lewis’s Ravens crushed the Giants 34-7.
Miller had 2.5 sacks and forced 2 fumbles.
Smith had a nice 69-yard pick-six and a fumble recovery.
Jackson tallied 2 interceptions.
Lewis had a rather nondescript 5 tackles and 4 passes defensed.
For a defender to win the Super Bowl MVP, it likely needs to be an uncompetitive game, and the defender probably needs to make a splashy play or two.
The Patriots are underdogs, and if they were to blow out the Seahawks, they’d likely need a game-changing play on defense, special teams, or both.
Marcus Jones can make electrifying plays on defense and special teams.
His 3 three interceptions were second on the Patriots in the regular season, and he took one to the house.
He also had 3 fumble recoveries and 2.0 sacks.
Furthermore, Jones has a pick-six in the playoffs against C.J. Stroud.
Jones’s 2 punt return touchdowns were also tied for the NFL lead in the regular season.
He has 3 punt return touchdowns and 3 interceptions for touchdowns in 51 career games.
Heck, Jones even has 1 receiving touchdown.
Jones is dynamic with the ball in his hands and is a threat to take any fielded punt, interception, or fumble recovery to the house.
Jones’s odds to win the Super Bowl MVP are too long for a player of his ilk, and sprinkling a small wager on him to capture the award is appealing.
Click here for full MVP odds and historical trends
