A breakdown of the top Super Bowl MVP candidates and why they could win the award

The Philadelphia Eagles are in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history — and favored to win it for the first time — for one specific reason: They have been the most complete team, on both sides of the ball, all season.

Super Bowl MVP oddsmakers surely recognize as much. Of the top seven players listed on the Super Bowl 57 MVP odds board, five wear green and white. And they play four different positions.

Here’s a breakdown of the top seven candidates to win MVP of Super Bowl 57, which is set for Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Odds updated as of 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 6.

Why he can win it: Hurts played MVP-caliber football until suffering a shoulder sprain in Week 15 — an injury that forced him to miss back-to-back games against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints.

Since returning to action in the Week 18 finale against the New York Giants, Hurts hasn’t put up gaudy statistics. He’s a combined 41-for-84 passing (48.9%) for 504 yards, to go with 86 rushing yards.

However, the second-year starter has accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) and has just one interception.

Most importantly, the Eagles are 16-1 with Hurts under center. That includes lopsided playoff wins over the No. 6-seed New York Giants and No. 2-seed San Francisco 49ers by a combined score of 69-14.

Hurts and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes currently are co-favorites to win Super Bowl MVP at BetMGM and FanDuel (both +135). However, Hurts is a slight favorite at Caesars Sportsbook (+130), just ahead of Mahomes (+125).

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Why he can win it: A total of 22 quarterbacks are responsible for winning 31 of the 56 MVPs in Super Bowl history.

The first was Green Bay’s Bart Starr, who won the honor in the first two Super Bowls.

The most recent? Tom Brady, who took home the hardware for a record fifth time after leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-9 victory over Kansas City in Super Bowl 55.

The year prior, though, Mahomes won Super Bowl MVP after scoring three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) in the Chiefs’ to a 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

During the 2022-23 regular season, Mahomes led the league in passing yards (5,250) and touchdowns (41). In two playoff games, he has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for 521 yards.

Like Hurts, Mahomes also has four touchdowns (all passing) and no turnovers in these playoffs. And he’s done much of it while playing on a badly sprained right ankle, which he sustained in the second quarter of a wild card victory over Jacksonville.

In back-to-back Super Bowl appearances against San Francisco and Tampa Bay, Mahomes is 52-for-91 (57%) for 556 yards. He also totaled 61 rushing yards in the two games.

All three of Mahomes’ Super Bowl touchdowns came against San Francisco. But he’s thrown four interceptions (two in each game).

Why he can win it: If the NFL handed out a pre-Super Bowl MVP of the playoffs, Kelce undoubtedly would be polishing his trophy right now.

In just two postseason contests, Kansas City’s unstoppable 6-foot-5 tight end has caught 21 of 25 targets from Mahomes for 176 yards and three touchdowns.

Kelce led all NFL tight ends (and ranked third overall) with 110 regular-season receptions. He was also eighth in the league with 1,338 receiving yards and second with 12 touchdown catches (trailing only Las Vegas wideout Davante Adams, who had 14).

The 10th-year pro has played in 17 playoff games and averaged 7.5 receptions and 86.3 yards, while scoring 15 touchdowns. That includes 16 receptions for 176 yards and one score in two Super Bowls.

Alas, history is not on Kelce’s side: While 10 wide receivers have won Super Bowl MVP, no tight end has taken the honor.

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Why he can win it: Brown was traded to Philadelphia from the Tennessee Titans on the first day of the 2022 NFL Draft. He then went out and ranked fourth in the league in receiving yards (1,496), third in yards-per-catch (17.0) and tied for third in touchdown receptions (11).

That’s the good news. The not-so-good news: Brown has been virtually nonexistent in the playoffs.

The 2019 second-round pick from Ole Miss has just seven catches (on 14 targets) for 50 yards, and he hasn’t sniffed the end zone.

Brown’s lack of postseason production is largely due to the Eagles having big leads in both games. If Super Bowl 57 is as competitive as expected, Hurts probably will have to put the ball in the air more than he did in Philly’s first two playoff games.

Obviously, more passing means more opportunities for Brown to put up the kind of numbers he did at the end of the regular season. He had at least 95 receiving yards in five of the last six games.

Also noteworthy: Brown faced the Chiefs twice when he was with the Titans (2019 and 2021). He totaled nine catches for 150 yards and one TD.

Why he can win it: Smith has been a bit more involved in the playoffs than Brown. He has eight catches for 97 yards and a touchdown.

However, the bulk of that came in the wild card victory over the Giants (six catches, 61 yards, TD).

Smith was highly consistent in the regular season. After getting blanked in the season opener at Detroit, he had at least five catches in 13 of his final 16 games (including the last six in a row).

Smith finished with a team-high 95 receptions (11th most in the league) for 1,196 yards (9th) and seven TDs.

Smith also had one of his best games as a pro against Kansas City in Week 4 last season. The then-rookie caught seven of 10 targets for what proved to be a season-high 122 yards in a 42-30 home loss.

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Why he can win it: Sanders once again was Philadelphia’s workhorse running back this season.

He led the team in carries (259), rushing yards (1,269) and yards per attempt (4.9), and his 11 rushing touchdowns were second only to Hurts (13).

Sanders had 17 carries for 90 yards in the Eagles’ 38-7 rout of New York in the wild card round. And while he followed that with just 42 rushing yards against San Francisco (on 11 carries), he scored Philadelphia’s first two touchdowns.

In last year’s 12-point home loss to the Chiefs, Sanders produced just 13 yards on seven carries. On the bright side, Kansas City’s defense has surrendered more than 100 rushing yards in seven of its last 10 games.

What will it take for Sanders to snap a 25-year Super Bowl MVP drought for running backs? Well over 100 rushing yards and a couple of touchdowns — plus a subpar game from Hurts both running and throwing.

Why he can win it: There’s precedence for linebackers winning Super Bowl MVP. In fact, it’s happened twice in the last decade.

In Super Bowl 48, Seattle Seahawks middle linebacker Malcolm Smith won the award in his team’s 43-8 rout of the Denver Broncos.

Two years later, it was a Bronco who turned the trick in a 24-10 win over the Carolina Panthers. Linebacker Von Miller was named MVP after recording 2.5 sacks, one of which forced a fumble that Denver recovered in the end zone for the opening touchdown.

Reddick is the top defensive player in the Super Bowl 57 MVP odds markets at BetMGM (+3000), FanDuel (+3400) and Caesars Sportsbook (+3500).

Why? Because he’s a game-wrecking beast.

In his first season with Philadelphia, Reddick had 16 of the Eagles’ NFL-best 70 sacks (tied with Cleveland’s Myles Garrett for second in the league). The sixth-year pro also forced five fumbles and recovered three in the regular season.

Reddick has continued to be a terror in the playoffs, picking 3.5 additional sacks. One of those sacks knocked 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy out of the NFC Championship Game in the first quarter.

The hit on Purdy caused a fumble that the Eagles recovered and converted into a touchdown. Then later in the second quarter, Reddick recovered a fumbled snap that led to a field goal.

Reddick would have to put together a similarly dominating performance to cash as a Super Bowl 57 MVP long shot. But the 13th overall pick of the 2017 draft has shown he’s more than capable of doing just that.

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