New England quarterback Tom Brady has won more MVPs in the Super Bowl than any other player in history and oddsmakers believe he will capture the honor for the fifth time. The two-time winner of the regular-season MVP award opened as a 4-5 favorite to take the hardware on Sunday.
Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles is second at a distant 7-2. Tight end Rob Gronkowski is third at 10-1. No player at that position has ever won.
Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins has the task of trying to stop Brady and told NBC Sports Philadelphia that he wants to prevent him from winning his sixth Super Bowl and fifth MVP.
“Greatest quarterback of all time,” Jenkins said. “But that doesn’t mean that he’s unbeatable.”
QB Passes Other Positions
The Super Bowl MVP favors the signal caller of the winning team. Of 51 years that position has grabbed the trophy 28 times. That includes six of the last eight years. San Francisco QB Joe Montana won it three times and Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw took it twice as did New York’s Eli Manning and Green Bay’s Bart Starr.
The next most awarded position is running back. They have taken it seven times, but it has been a 10 years since the last one. Denver’s Terrell Davis was named in 1998. No tailback has won more than once.
With the passing game becoming more utilized in the sport wide receivers are capturing the honor more. Six times a player at that position has claimed it, but three of those have been since 2005.
Defensive players at various positions have won 10 times. The last was Denver’s All Pro linebacker Von Miller in 2016. One special teams player, Desmond Howard, was awarded MVP as the kick and punt returner in the 1997 Super Bowl.
The only defensive player posted on the board this year is Philadelphia defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. He is listed at 40-1.
Why Brady Keeps Winning
The first time the Michigan alum won MVP was in his second year in the league. The Patriots were playing the St. Louis Rams and Kurt Warner had just thrown a game-tying touchdown with 1:30 remaining. Brady then marched his team down the field without any timeouts to set up the winning field goal.
In 2004 he had 32 completions on 48 attempts which were both Super Bowl records and he finished with three touchdowns to earn his second award.
Brady broke both of those records in the 2015 big game when he completed 37 passes on 50 attempts. He finished with four touchdowns and set seven Super Bowl records, including most games started and most career touchdowns.
Last year cemented Brady’s “Greatest of All Time” status with many when he led the team back from a 28-3 deficit midway through the third quarter, eventually winning, 34-28. He again broke his completion record converting 43 passes on 62 attempts.
After the game, Brady was surprised he won his fourth MVP and thought that running back James White should have gotten it instead of him.
“I think James White deserves it,” Brady said the following day. “It’d be nice for him.”