Drake Maye named second-team All-Pro. What does it mean for his MVP chances?

New England Patriots

Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones was the only other player on the team to receive All-Pro honors.

By Conor Roche

January 10, 2026 | 11:10 AM

2 minutes to read

Drake Maye earned a pretty high honor on Saturday. However, it likely means he won’t win MVP.

The Patriots’ quarterback was named second-team All-Pro, becoming the first offensive player in the organization to receive All-Pro honors since 2019. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford earned the first-team All-Pro spot over Maye.

Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones was the only other player on the team to receive All-Pro honors. He was named second-team All-Pro as a returner, marking the second time in his career he was named All-Pro.

In terms of the vote, Stafford received 31 of the 50 first-place votes at quarterback. Maye, meanwhile, earned 18 of the votes, while Bills’ star Josh Allen was the only other quarterback to receive an All-Pro vote.

Historically, the MVP winner has typically been named first-team All-Pro. Only two players were named MVP after failing to receive first-team All-Pro honors since 2000, and there have been only three instances in NFL history where a player has won MVP and not received first-team All-Pro honors in the same year. Steve McNair was one of them in 2003, as he won co-MVP with Peyton Manning after he was named second-team All-Pro.

The other instance came last year, when Allen won MVP over Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson after being named second-team All-Pro. Allen actually lost the first-team All-Pro spot to Jackson by nearly the same number of votes that Maye lost the first-team All-Pro spot to Stafford this year. Allen received 18 first-place votes to Jackson’s 31 first-place votes.

Allen wound up winning the MVP, though, in one of the closest votes in the history of the award. Allen received 27 first-place votes to Jackson’s 23, while also getting 383 points to Jackson’s 362.

So, if Maye’s going to win MVP, it’s likely going to be in a tight vote. But history is on Stafford’s side after Saturday’s announcement. Stafford was also the betting favorite to win the award when the regular season ended. He held -195 odds to win the award to Maye’s +115 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook. As of Saturday morning, you aren’t able to wager on the MVP winner at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Maye was briefly the favorite to win MVP on a pair of occasions in December, becoming the betting favorite after Week 13. His odds to win the award dropped following the Patriots’ Week 15 loss to the Bills, but Maye became the MVP favorite again after Stafford threw three interceptions against the Falcons in Week 17.

But Stafford seemed to gain momentum after throwing for four touchdowns in the Rams’ Week 18 win over the Cardinals. That helped Stafford finish the season with a league-leading 46 passing touchdowns. He also led the league in passing yards with 4,707.

Maye was also tops in the league in several stats. He had the best completion percentage (72 percent), yards per attempt (8.9), and passer rating (113.5). He also led all quarterbacks in a handful of advanced metrics, like expected points added (EPA) per play.

On top of that, Maye helped the Patriots win the division and led his team to a better record (14-3) than Stafford (12-5). However, many of those who have leaned toward Stafford in the MVP race have pointed out Maye’s relatively easy schedule. In fact, some metrics show that the Patriots’ schedule was among the easiest an NFL team has had in the last few decades.

In the event Maye loses the MVP to Stafford, though, there is one thing Patriots fans can take solace in. Only one MVP winner has won the Super Bowl in the same season they took home the award, with Patrick Mahomes doing that in 2022.