ClutchPoints
The NFL season is nearly a quarter of the way through, and the cream is starting to rise to the top in 2025. As the calendar flips to October, it’s time to check in on the various award races around the league to see who is in line to contend for some of the sport’s biggest individual trophies at the end of the year.
First up is the MVP award, the biggest individual honor of them all. The 2025 race features a lot of familiar faces, including the last three winners in Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. However, Jackson’s candidacy has taken a hit after the Ravens’ poor start combined with his hamstring injury that could keep him out for a few weeks.
Who takes the top spot? Let’s count down the top five.
Honorable mention: Eagles QB Jalen Hurts, Colts QB Daniel Jones, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson, Packers QB Jordan Love
The Cowboys are just 1-2-1 on the season after a bizarre tie against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night in Week 4, but it is no fault of Dak Prescott’s. Without their star quarterback playing some of the best football of his career, there’s no telling where the Cowboys might be this season.
Prescott played an incredible game in a Week 1 loss against the Philadelphia Eagles before some crucial drops by CeeDee Lamb late in the game let him down. He was also excellent in the Week 4 tie against Green Bay, even without Lamb on the field due to his ankle injury.
Through four weeks, Prescott ranks third in the NFL in completion percentage (72.9%) and Next Gen Stats has him at the top of the league in completion percentage over expected (+8.9%). That is a flawed stat at times, but it shows that Prescott has still been able to maintain his elite efficiency while pushing the ball down the field into tight windows and taking a lot of risk.
Prescott’s counting stats are also elite, as he currently leads the league in passing yards with 1,119 and has six touchdowns to three picks so far. The Cowboys’ offensive line is now pretty banged up, which will make things tougher for Prescott, but he will be getting Lamb back soon.
Dallas likely won’t win enough games for Prescott to rise on this list, but there’s a world out there where he builds a 2024 Joe Burrow-type case as he tries to keep up with this porous Cowboys defense.
It is going to be very difficult for a non-quarterback to win the NFL MVP in any year, but a season like the one Puka Nacua is having is exactly the one that could stir up a conversation.
Through just four games, Nacua has caught 42 of his 50 targets for 503 yards and a touchdown while also finding the end zone once on the ground. That puts him on an absolutely ridiculous...
