Cam Newton makes an interesting pick to win the 2024 NFL MVP award

Former league MVP Cam Newton has an idea who he thinks is going to win this year's MVP award.

Tim Weaver | Nov 23, 2024

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 30: Cam Newton is seen during Fan Controlled Football Season v2.0 - Week Three on April 30, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. / (Photo by Brett Davis/Fan Controlled Football/Getty Images)

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Carolina Panthers

The latest odds for the 2024 NFL MVP award have Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen as the favorite, followed closely by Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson. Both would be deserving winners based on how the season has played out so far. However, former Carolina Panthers quarterback and one-time league MVP Cam Newton thinks someone else is going to win the award.

On his latest 4th & 1 podcast, Newton predicted that it will be Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff who wins MVP this year. The reasoning is simple: Goff is the starting quarterback on the best team in the league. Cam says that echoes what happened with Matt Ryan in 2016, when he won MVP despite Julio Jones being the best player on the Atlanta Falcons that year. (NSFW)

Cam Newton makes MVP pick

‘Matt Ryan won MVP, but Julio Jones was the best player on that team.’@CameronNewton explains why he thinks Jared Goff will win MVP this year—despite not even being the best player on his own team! pic.twitter.com/KFINVwZNey
— 4th&1 with Cam Newton (@4thand1show) November 22, 2024

Goff isn't a terrible quarterback by any means - especially compared to the player he was early in his career with the Los Angeles Rams. That said, there are about a dozen other players on the Lions who play their respective positions better than Goff plays his. Nevertheless, Newton is probably right - as MVP voters tend to give outsize credit to QBs whose teams have great records, even if their seasons are not at an elite level.

It is probably fair to point out that you could make a case that Luke Kuechly was the best player on the 2015 Carolina team when Newton won his MVP. That's a story for another day, though. There's still a lot of football left to play, but our MVP pick at the moment is Allen - without whom the Bills probably wouldn't even make the NFL playoffs.