AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award

The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award is presented annually by the Associated Press (AP) to the National Football League (NFL) player deemed to have been the "most valuable" in that year's regular season. While there have been many selectors of NFL MVPs in the past, today the MVP award presented by the AP is considered the de facto official NFL MVP award and the most prestigious. Since 2011, the NFL has held the annual NFL Honors ceremony to recognize the winner of each year's Associated Press MVP award, along with other AP awards, such as the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year and AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year. The incumbent AP NFL MVP is Matt Ryan, who led the Atlanta Falcons to an 11–5 record and whose 117.1 passer rating was the highest among quarterbacks in the 2016 season.

The AP has presented an award recognizing the NFL's top player since 1957, although the pre-1961 awardees are recognized as winning the AP's "NFL Most Outstanding Player Award", and the 1962 award is considered the AP's "Player of the Year" award. The award is voted upon by a panel of 50 sportswriters at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs, though the results are not announced to the public until the day before the Super Bowl. The sportswriters chosen regularly follow the NFL, and remain mostly consistent from year to year. They are chosen based on expertise and are independent of the league itself. Voters for the award have included Troy Aikman of Fox Sports; Cris Collinsworth and Tony Dungy of NBC Sports; and Herm Edwards of ESPN. The only player to be voted unanimously is quarterback Tom Brady, who received 50 out of 50 votes for the 2010 season.

...
Wikipedia