In what shouldn’t be considered too much of a surprise, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has been named the 2016 Associated Press NFL MVP, beating out Super Bowl LI opponent Tom Brady of the New England Patrots.
BREAKING: Matt Ryan named 2016 AP NFL MVP https://t.co/BXTDe6epjH pic.twitter.com/ewseam8fmw
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) February 5, 2017
Most figured that Ryan, coming off the best performance of his career, would take home the award. After all, Ryan led the NFL’s top-scoring offense while passing for 4,944 yards with 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Ryan now heads into the Super Bowl with the NFL’s highest individual honor. He does so against a quarterback in Tom Brady who put up 28 touchdowns compared to two interceptions in 12 starts during the regular season.
Other top awards went to Khalil Mack (defensive player of the year), Matt Ryan (offensive player of the year), Dak Prescott (offensive rookie of the year) and Joey Bosa (defensive rookie of the year.