Josh Allen is MVP for the first time – however, his lead over Lamar Jackson was very narrow. Now the individual voting results of the 50 eligible voters have been published. Tom Brady also voted.

For the first time, Josh Allen has been named NFL MVP.

The Buffalo Bills quarterback narrowly beat Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens. It would have been the third award of his career for the Ravens star.

But while Jackson was almost unanimously voted for last year, it was much closer this time. This is clear from the official voting results published by the AP news agency. The AP is traditionally responsible for conducting the NFL Awards vote.

Comment: Allen’s MVP award is well deserved

A total of 50 journalists were involved in the voting and were each allowed to select five names, ranking them in order of preference for first to fifth place. First place was worth five points, second place four points, and so on.

In the end, Allen won with 383 points, including 27 votes for first place. Jackson was ranked at the top by the journalists 23 times and came in with 362 points. The outcome of the vote has not been this close since the 2016 season, when Matt Ryan beat Tom Brady.

Tom Brady also voted

Speaking of Brady: In his role as a TV expert for “FOX Sports”, the GOAT was also among the voters. The seven-time Super Bowl champion voted for Jackson in first place ahead of Allen, while running back Saquon Barkley of the Philadelphia Eagles came in third on his ballot.

Surprisingly, Brady voted for wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals in fourth place. But he was not alone in doing so; Chase appears on a total of four ballots – twice in fourth place and twice in fifth place. Brady chose quarterback Joe Burrow of the Bengals for fifth place.

The result of the 50 ballots also shows: Allen and Jackson were the only players to be ranked first among the 50 journalists. Among 49 journalists, the two quarterbacks even took first and second place.

Only one broke this pattern and voted Barkley in second place. Among the remaining 11 journalists, Allen came in first, while Jackson only came in fourth behind Burrow.

Barkley finished third in the final MVP vote with 120 points. Burrow followed in fourth place with 82 points, and quarterback Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions came in fifth with 47 points.

Confusion about MVP and All-Pro results

But how can it be that Allen was chosen as MVP, but Jackson was voted All-Pro, as the best quarterback in the league?

After all, the same 50 people voted on both awards. And in the All-Pro vote, Jackson got 30 of the 50 votes, while Allen only got 18.

The answer: Some journalists who voted for Jackson for All-Pro also voted for him for Offensive Player of the Year, but did not put him in first place for MVP.