2. Kyler Murray, QB, Minnesota Vikings
The closer we get to the season, the more we're starting to buy the hype with Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray.
Of course, he has to officially be named the starter in Minnesota over JJ McCarthy for this season, but that's something we're expecting to happen in due time. And we've seen what Murray can do in the past with a great supporting cast around him as well as a coach that fully believes in him.
Not to mention, a clean bill of health...
The Vikings feel like they're getting a mulligan for the Sam Darnold gaffe, and Murray has a chance to become a long-term option for them. With the weapons at receiver the Vikings have, it seems like a no-brainer that Murray would have a chance to not only be a Comeback Player of the Year candidate, but maybe even a darkhorse for the league MVP award.
1. Bryce Young, QB, Carolina Panthers
Hear me out for a second here: What if Bryce Young could play most of the season like he did last year against the Los Angeles Rams?
That's not really fair, because you can take any player's best two or three games in a season and argue that they could be league MVP if they played that well over an entire season. But in this exercise, we're talking about sleeper MVP candidates in the NFC, and nobody is really talking about Bryce Young as a possible option.
Once again, nobody saw Darnold finishing in the top 10 of MVP voting back in 2024, so anything is possible.
Young was the #1 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, and despite a humbling experience in his first two seasons, he's been steadily improving and showing the form we saw from him at Alabama since about midway through the 2024 season when the Panthers went to Denver.
Young's touchdown percentage has climbed from 2.1 percent as a rookie to 3.9 percent in 2024, then 4.8 percent in 2025. He's cut down on mistakes, he's playing really solid football in crunch time (extremely underrated 10 game-winning drives over the past two seasons), and he's acclimating well to Dave Canales's offense.
He might be one of the most slept-on players at his position in the league right now.
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