Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Dak Prescott
One of the four quarterback finalists is expected to come away with the NFL MVP.
The MVP has been a quarterback award for most of its existence. Adrian Peterson, in 2012, was the last non-quarterback to capture the award.
That puts McCaffrey at a disadvantage despite producing a career high in rushing yards and the fourth-best receiving-yard total of his career.
The 49ers running back totaled 2,023 total yards and found the end zone 21 occasions, but that may not be enough to compare to the four quarterback finalists.
Purdy led the 49ers to the No. 1 seed in the NFC with 4,280 passing yards and 31 touchdowns.
The second-year QB may take some first-place votes away from his teammate because of his improvement at the command of one of the NFL's top offenses.
Prescott threw for more yards and touchdowns than Purdy, but he came up short against the 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins. He had fewer than 200 passing yards in two of those contests and did not throw multiple touchdowns in any of those contests.
Allen would be the front-runner to win MVP if the award was only handed out for the second half of the regular season.
He led the Bills on a surge to the AFC East title, but he had multiple bad performances in the first half that make his resume incomplete.
Jackson was the most consistent quarterback in the regular season in meaningful games. He led the Ravens to wins over the Dolphins, 49ers, Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams.
The 2019 NFL MVP finished with fewer passing yards than Purdy, Allen and Prescott, but he had a larger impact on games with his legs and he won all of Baltimore's important regular-season contests.
