Every Super Bowl MVP Winner in NFL History

Sixty Super Bowls have produced 61 MVP awards, and Tom Brady owns five of them — more than anyone else. Joe Montana and Patrick Mahomes have three apiece. The most recent winner is Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III, who ran for 135 yards in the Seahawks' 29-13 win over New England in Super Bowl LX.

Below is the complete list from Super Bowl I to Super Bowl LX, with position, team and the stat line that won each award, followed by the records, oddities and position trends behind it.

The Short Answer

Every Super Bowl MVP, I Through LX

Seasons are listed by the year the season was played, not the year the game was staged — Super Bowl LX capped the 2025 season.

This page is updated every February, within a day of the Super Bowl.

No, Super Bowl I Did Not Have Co-MVPs

It comes up often, and the answer is clean: Bart Starr won Super Bowl I outright. He then won Super Bowl II as well, making him the only player to win the award in back-to-back years until Terry Bradshaw did it after the 1978 and 1979 seasons.

The single instance of shared honors came a decade later. In Super Bowl XII, Dallas beat Denver 27-10 behind a defense that forced eight turnovers, and voters could not separate defensive end Harvey Martin from defensive tackle Randy White. They split the award — the only co-MVPs in Super Bowl history.

Chuck Howley: The Only MVP From a Losing Team

Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley intercepted two passes in Super Bowl V and still went home a loser, as Baltimore won 16-13 on a field goal with five seconds left. Howley remains the only player named Super Bowl MVP for a team that lost the game.

He is also, for practical purposes, the last one who ever can be. Voters are now instructed to choose from the winning team's roster, which closes the door on a repeat. Howley reportedly did not want the trophy at the time, and the game he played it in is one of the sloppiest title games ever staged — 11 combined turnovers.

Position Breakdown: Quarterbacks and Everyone Else

Across 60 games and 61 awards, the split looks like this.

Quarterbacks have taken the award in 34 of 61 chances, and the trend has hardened over time. Since Super Bowl XLIV after the 2009 season, quarterbacks have won 12 of 17. The award increasingly follows the position that touches the ball on every snap and gets the credit for a comeback drive.

The defensive group is the interesting one. Ten defenders have won, but they cluster: Howley in Super Bowl V, Jake Scott in VII, Martin and White in XII, Richard Dent in XX. That is five of the first 20 games. In the 40 Super Bowls since, only five defenders have won — Larry Brown, Ray Lewis, Dexter Jackson, Malcolm Smith and Von Miller — and four of the five had a turnover or a sack total impossible to ignore.

Desmond Howard sits alone in his own category. His 244 return yards and 99-yard kickoff return touchdown in Super Bowl XXXI make him the only special teams player ever named Super Bowl MVP.

Kenneth Walker III and the End of the Running Back Drought

Kenneth Walker III carried 27 times for 135 yards in Super Bowl LX, and Seattle beat New England 29-13 for the franchise's second title. He became the first running back to win Super Bowl MVP since Terrell Davis after the 1997 season — a gap of 28 Super Bowls.

Here is every running back who has won it:

That the drought lasted so long says less about running backs than about how modern Super Bowls are won. Walker's night was the exception: Seattle leaned on him against a New England defense built to take away the pass, and the Seahawks' upset run is now part of the sport's list of unlikely champions. The win also put Mike Macdonald on the list of Super Bowl-winning head coaches in his second season.

Brady's Five, Montana's Three

Tom Brady's five Super Bowl MVPs are two more than anyone else has managed. Four came with New England (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX, LI) and the fifth with Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV, which also made him the only player to win the award for two different franchises. His Super Bowl LI line — 43 completions on 62 attempts for 466 yards in the comeback from 28-3 down — is the most volume any MVP has ever put up.

Joe Montana went 3-for-3: he never lost a Super Bowl and won MVP in three of his four appearances, capped by a 297-yard, five-touchdown night in the 55-10 win over Denver in Super Bowl XXIV. Patrick Mahomes matched him with wins in LIV, LVII and LVIII, becoming the third player to reach three.

Below them are the two-time winners: Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw and Eli Manning, whose two awards both came at New England's expense. For the team-level version of these dynasties, see which NFL franchises have won the most Super Bowls, and for the game-by-game record, the full list of Super Bowl winners by year.

How the Super Bowl MVP Is Chosen

A panel of 16 writers and broadcasters covering the game votes, with ballots submitted around the two-minute warning and revised if the closing minutes change the story. Since 2001 fans have voted too, counting for 20% of the result to the media panel's 80%.

The trophy itself has carried Pete Rozelle's name since Super Bowl XXV. Before that the award existed but the hardware did not — SPORT magazine originally presented the honor, along with a car for the winner.

The regular-season award works nothing like this. The Associated Press NFL MVP is voted by 50 media members over a full season and announced at NFL Honors the night before the game.

FAQ

Who has the most Super Bowl MVP awards? Tom Brady, with five. He won four with New England (Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX and LI) and one with Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV. Joe Montana and Patrick Mahomes are next with three each.

Has a player from a losing team ever won Super Bowl MVP? Once. Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley won it in Super Bowl V despite the Cowboys losing 16-13 to Baltimore. Voters are now told to pick from the winning team, so it is effectively impossible to repeat.

Were there co-MVPs in Super Bowl I? No. Bart Starr won it alone. The only shared award came in Super Bowl XII, when Dallas defensive linemen Harvey Martin and Randy White split it.

How many quarterbacks have won Super Bowl MVP? Thirty-four of the 61 awards have gone to quarterbacks, about 56%. Since the 2009 season, quarterbacks have won 12 of 17.

Who was the last running back to win Super Bowl MVP? Kenneth Walker III of the Seahawks, after Super Bowl LX in February 2026. He was the first running back to win it since Terrell Davis in Super Bowl XXXII, 28 games earlier.

Has a defensive player ever won Super Bowl MVP? Ten times, counting the Super Bowl XII co-MVPs separately. The most recent was Von Miller, who had 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles for Denver in Super Bowl 50.

Has a special teams player ever won? Only Desmond Howard, whose 244 return yards and 99-yard kickoff return touchdown carried Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXI.

Does the Super Bowl MVP get extra money? Not from the league's playoff share system, which pays a flat amount per player based on the round. See how much the Super Bowl winner gets paid for how those checks are calculated.