Most Valuable Player of the Year Award

The Most Valuable Player of the Year Award is presented by the United Press International (UPI) to the top player in the National Football League (NFL). From 1948 through 1969 the winner was selected by polling all UPI sportswriters and starting in 1970 separate awards were given in the NFC & AFC.

NOTES: Bold entries denote players who went on to become members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame; Year fields link to the NFL season in review page, winner's names link to the player's page and team name links to the official roster for the year in which the player won the Most Valuable Player of the Year Award.

"The Golden Arm, as he (Johnny Unitas) is known, amassed numerous records in his 17 years as a Baltimore Colt. Of all those records he holds, one in particular still stands today as the greatest in the annals of professional football, (47) consecutive games with a touchdown pass." - JohnnyUnitas.com (Link)

Most Valuable Player of the Year Award United Press International Most Valuable Player of the Year Award on Football Almanac
Year	Winner^(Quantity)	Position	Team / Roster^{(Franchise Quantity)}
1948	Pat Harder⁽¹⁾	Running Back	1948 Chicago Cardinals⁽¹⁾
1949	Not Awarded	--	--
1950	Not Awarded	--	--
1951	Otto Graham⁽¹⁾	Quarterback	1951 Cleveland Browns⁽¹⁾
1952	Not Awarded	--	--
1953	Otto Graham⁽²⁾	Quarterback	1953 Cleveland Browns⁽²⁾
1954	Joe Perry⁽¹⁾	Fullback	1954 San Francisco 49ers⁽¹⁾
1955	Otto Graham⁽³⁾	Tight End	1955 Cleveland Browns⁽³⁾
1956	Frank Gifford⁽¹⁾	Running Back	1956 New York Giants⁽¹⁾
1957	Y.A. Tittle⁽¹⁾	Quarterback	1957 San Francisco 49ers⁽²⁾
1958	Jim Brown⁽¹⁾	Running Back	1958 Cleveland Browns⁽⁴⁾
1959	Johnny Unitas⁽¹⁾	Quarterback	1959 Baltimore Colts⁽¹⁾
1960	Norm Van Brocklin⁽¹⁾	Quarterback	1960 Philadelphia Eagles⁽¹⁾
1961	Paul Hornung⁽¹⁾	Running Back	1961 Green Bay Packers⁽¹⁾
1962	Y.A. Tittle⁽²⁾	Quarterback	1962 New York Giants⁽²⁾
1963	Jim Brown⁽²⁾	Running Back	1963 Cleveland Browns⁽⁵⁾
1964	Johnny Unitas⁽²⁾	Quarterback	1964 Baltimore Colts⁽²⁾
1965	Jim Brown⁽³⁾	Running Back	1965 Cleveland Browns⁽⁶⁾
1966	Bart Starr⁽¹⁾	Quarterback	1966 Green Bay Packers⁽²⁾
1967	Johnny Unitas⁽³⁾	Quarterback	1967 Baltimore Colts⁽³⁾
1968	Earl Morrall⁽¹⁾	Quarterback	1968 Baltimore Colts⁽⁴⁾
1969	Roman Gabriel⁽¹⁾	Quarterback	1969 Los Angeles Rams⁽¹⁾
Year	Winner^(Quantity)	Position	Team / Roster^{(Franchise Quantity)}
Most Valuable Player of the Year Award on Football Almanac

Did you know that there have been seven running backs and twelve quarterbacks who have won the Most Valuable Player of the Year Award?

A breakdown of other official NFL most valuable player awards: The Joe F. Carr Trophy (1938-1946), the Newspaper Enterprise Association NFL MVP (1955-Today), the Associated Press NFL MVP (1957-Today) and the Pro Football Writers of America NFL MVP (1975-Today).

Which player on the chart above deserved the Most Valuable Player of the Year Award the least? Which player "should" have won during that particular season? Share your opinion on Pigskin Fever.

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