The 2024 NFL MVP race won’t go down as the closest ever, because it’s impossible to beat an actual tie like we saw between Peyton Manning and Steve McNair back in 2003 when the two quarterbacks were awarded Co-MVPs. But the 2024 MVP race, won by Josh Allen, despite Lamar Jackson taking home First-Team All-Pro recognition.

Only three times in NFL history has the player named the All-Pro quarterback failed to win the NFL MVP outright. The last was McNair in 2003 and before that John Elway in 1987.

To be clear: this NEVER happens. Prior to the announcement of the All-Pro teams, Allen was a massive favorite to win MVP. He had been for weeks after some of the best football you’ll ever see played. Lamar closed the gap enough where there was a discussion, but Jackson was still somewhere north of the +200 range.

The market flipped completely at that point and it looked like Lamar winning was a fait accompli. And then Thursday night happened, with Allen himself “surprised” to win.

“I was pretty surprised, given what we know about how the voting goes,” Allen said. “Lamar was very deserving of this as well.”

So what happened? All 50 MVP voting ballots were made public by the AP, apparently without the voters knowing, which led to some interesting revelations: Lamar received a fourth-place vote, Allen received a third-place vote.

The voting processes for the All-Pro and NFL MVP awards are similar but different, with voters being the same. The primary reason for the massive shift from Lamar to Allen was several voters’ decision to “split the baby” and vote for BOTH.

Josh Allen receiving a third-place vote and Lamar Jackson receiving a fourth-place vote were surprising but didn’t change the outcome significantly.

ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky is another AP voter who publicly acknowledged voting for both quarterbacks, with significant discussions about how voters have different interpretations of what constitutes the MVP criteria.