NFL announces MVP finalists with favorite Lamar Jackson headlining the shortlist, while San Francisco 49ers teammates Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey are set to battle it out for the award

The NFL has announced the finalists for this season’s MVP, with frontrunner Lamar Jackson topping the list.

With the winner of the MVP award set to be revealed on February 8, just days before the Super Bowl, this year’s shortlist was announced on Thursday.

Rather than supporting each other, 49ers teammates Purdy and McCaffrey will compete against each other for the prestigious prize as they look to continue their run to the big game.

But it’s Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson who is the favorite to win the award.

Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP, threw for 3,678 yards and 24 touchdowns and also ran for 821 yards and five scores. He helped the Baltimore Ravens (14-4) have the best record in the league and led them to a playoff victory over Houston. Jackson received 45 of 50 votes for AP first-team All-Pro.

San Francisco 49ers teammates Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffery will compete

Quarterbacks Josh Allen (left) and Dak Prescott (right) round out the list of five finalists

Jackson joins Purdy and McCaffrey as the third player on the roster who still has a chance to play in the season finale as he faces Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game next Sunday.

Mahomes won his second MVP award last season before also being crowned a Super Bowl winner. MVP didn’t make the cut this year.

Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys round out the five finalists, making McCaffrey the only non-quarterback to make the cut.

Prescott had 4,516 yards passing, an NFL-best 36 TD passes and a 105.9 passer rating while leading Dallas to an NFC East title. But the Cowboys were eliminated in the wild-card round by Green Bay.

The San Francisco 49ers are not only cemented as a contender to win Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, but also as the prohibitive favorite to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Purdy’s fairy tale from Mr. Irrelevant to Super Bowl candidate has earned him plenty of praise, and along with it, MVP credentials.

But the signal caller downplayed his MVP chances and backed his teammate to win the award.

Purdy made it clear last month who he thought would take home the honor of the league’s best player at the end of the season.

“I think Christian should be MVP, I really believe that,” Purdy explained.

A unanimous AP All-Pro choice, McCaffrey led the NFL with 1,459 yards rushing and had 14 rushing TDs for San Francisco. He also had 564 yards receiving for seven scores.

Purdy, McCaffrey and the 49ers (13-5) will host the Detroit Lions (14-5) in the NFC championship game on Sunday.

Jackson, McCaffrey and Allen are in the running for double honors as they have also been named to the shortlist for Offensive Player of the Year.

Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Cowboys wideout CeeDee Lamb are the other two finalists for Offensive Player of the Year.

Tyreek Hill (left) and CeeDee Lamb (right) are two finalists for Offensive Player of the Year

Meanwhile, the finalists for Coach of the Year were also announced, with Dan Campbell leading the charge after leading the Detroit Lions to their first NFC Championship game this century.

He is joined by other Championship game coaches, Ravens John Harbaugh and Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers, while DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans and Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns were also on the list.

Stefanski, the 2020 winner, led the Browns to an 11-6 record despite losing Deshaun Watson and using four starting QBs. Ryans took the Texans from the AFC South’s worst to first place in his rookie season. Campbell helped Detroit win the first division title in thirty years. Harbaugh and Shanahan led their teams to No. 1 seeds.

Texans rookie quarterback CJ Stroud is a standout among the Offensive Rookie of the Year after leading the team to the divisional round of the playoffs.

The signal caller is joined by Jahmyr Gibbs (Detroit Lions), Sam LaPorta (Detroit Lions), Puka Nacua (Los Angeles Rams) and Bijan Robinson (Atlanta Falcons).

Defensive are Will Anderson (Houston Texans), Jalen Carter (Philadelphia Eagles), Joey Porter Jr. (Pittsburgh Steelers), Kobie Turner (Los Angeles Rams) and Devon Witherspoon (Seattle Seahawks) are all up for the Rookie of the Year award.

Stroud and Anderson Jr. Texans, who have been selected back-to-back with the second and third picks in the NFL draft, aim to make it two consecutive years with the winners coming from the same team. New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson and cornerback Sauce Gardner won the awards in 2022.

Damar Hamlin is the clear frontrunner for Comeback Player of the Year after the Bills safety miraculously returned to the field this season, just months after suffering cardiac arrest during last season’s Week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, where he was resuscitated on the field.

But the 25-year-old will face competition from a quartet of quarterbacks in Joe Flacco, Matthew Stafford, Baker Mayfield and Tua Tagovailoa.

However, New York Jets running back Breece Hall was a notable omission from the category after making his return in Week 1, just 324 days after tearing his ACL on October 23, 2022.

And the Jets clearly felt like their star was being snubbed when the organization’s Twitter account tweeted a photo of the list of finalists with the caption, “lol come on.”

The Cleveland Browns have finalists in four categories: Myles Garrett for Defensive Player of the Year; Stefanski for Coach of the Year; Flacco for Comeback Player of the Year; Jim Schwartz for Assistant Coach of the Year.

Cowboys beat Micah Parsons and cornerback DaRon Bland, Raiders beat Maxx Crosby and Steelers beat TJ Watt to join Garrett as finalists for Defensive Player of the Year.

Damar Hamlin is the frontrunner for Comeback Player of the Year after his miraculous return

Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud is a standout among the Offensive Rookie of the Year

Watt led the NFL with 19 sacks, Crosby had 14 1/2 and Garrett and Parsons each had 14. Bland set an NFL record with five interception returns for a touchdown.

Schwartz led the NFL’s No. 1 defense in his first season as Cleveland’s defensive coordinator. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Todd Monken and Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik are also finalists for Assistant Coach of the Year.

This was the second year that the AP’s weighted voting system was used. Voters chose a top five for MVP and top three for all other awards. For MVP, first-place votes were worth 10 points. Second through fifth place votes were worth five, three, two and one points.

For all other awards, first place votes were equal to five points, second place three, and third place one.