Winning a trip to Disney World doesn’t carry the same gravitas it once did in the 1980s and 1990s. On the other hand, laying claim to a Super Bowl MVP ensures that you will always be remembered as one of the game’s greats. Most of the players that have been named Super Bowl MVP are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Tips for Betting on Super Bowl MVP

More quarterbacks have been named Super Bowl MVP than every other position combined. After Super Bowl LV, we have seen 31 QBs be named Super Bowl MVP. Only seven running backs and seven wide receivers have earned the honor. There have been ten non-offensive players that have won this award with Von Miller being the last defensive player to achieve the feat.

Given the predilection of media members to vote for quarterbacks, it’s no surprise that nine of the last 12 Super Bowl MVP winners have been signal callers. That has heavily influenced the Super Bowl MVP betting odds, as the two big favorites to win the award are the starting quarterbacks for each team. In some instances, the favored team’s quarterback might even be an odds-on favorite.

These odds mean that there usually isn’t much value betting on either team’s quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP. Instead, the value is found elsewhere, and the most value is usually found in defensive players.

Defensive players are all typically 40-1 or higher to win Super Bowl MVP. Linebackers Malcolm Smith and Von Miller have both claimed this award in the last decade, and Tampa Bay could have had a defensive player be named MVP due to the Buccaneers’ dominance up front against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. Vita Vea and Jason Pierre-Paul were both more valuable than Tom Brady in that game if you look at the advanced metrics.

Of course, it’s part and parcel that the Super Bowl MVP will be on the team that won the Super Bowl. Chuck Howley was the only player from a losing team to be named MVP, and that was all the way back in Super Bowl V over 50 years ago. That game was an anomaly in so many ways as the two teams turned the ball over a whopping 11 times. It’s safe to say we will never see anything like that again.

Super Bowl MVPs in the 21st Century

There is no more revered player in NFL history than Tom Brady. Brady led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowls in 20 seasons, and he was named the Super Bowl MVP four times. He added to his legacy by leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an upset over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, picking up his seventh Super Bowl ring and fifth Super Bowl MVP trophy.

Joe Montana previously held the record for most Super Bowl MVPs, being named the best player in Super Bowls XVI, XIX, and XXIV for the San Francisco 49ers. The three other players to be named Super Bowl MVP multiple times are all quarterbacks too with Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, and Eli Manning all earning the accolade twice.

Super Bowl XII was distinct in that two different players were named Super Bowl MVP. Harvey Martin and Randy White shared the honor as the Dallas Cowboys’ defense put their stamp on the game in a 27-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.