In the NFL MVP race, the top three candidates — in alphabetical order — are:

A) Josh Allen

B) Lamar Jackson

C) Patrick Mahomes.

I’ll take the fourth choice:

D) Any of the above.

We’re in the ice cream shop. There’s no wrong choice here.

With one game left for Jackson and Mahomes and two left for Allen, each AFC quarterback has built a winning case for MVP. They’ve all led their team to the Super Bowl tournament, none missing a contest.

The three-star show wasn’t surprising. All three QBs occupy the sweet spot of vast experience and in-their-prime youth — Jackson being the youngest, at 27, followed by Allen, 28, and Mahomes, 29.

Running backs don’t affect the game as much as QBs, denying Saquon Barkley a realistic shot at the MVP award, but he deserves NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors. And if the Bengals hadn’t failed him, QB Joe Burrow would be in the MVP hunt.

Proceeding alphabetically, I’ll begin with why I wouldn’t vote against Allen.

Above all, he’s scary in the red zone. That’s where most big games are decided, and it’s where greatness is needed because the game becomes faster and more compressed.

Either in the pocket or on the move, Allen can make the right red-zone passes at a high rate.

It’s his run dimension that affects defenses the most.

He wins races to the pylon or up a seam; unlike most QBs of the Super Bowl era, he initiates and wins collisions with linebackers and safeties.

This season, Allen has gone from bad to good at avoiding interceptions.

The opportunities Allen creates for teammates stand out, and that’s a big factor in the Bills scoring 30-plus in eight consecutive games and leading the AFC in points scored.

Khalil Shakir leads the team in receptions (73). His lateral agility is wicked. At Boise State, dropped passes were a problem for the short-armed receiver.

Shakir, tough and resilient, now stands as fifth-round steal. Assist, Allen.

Gritty Mack Hollins leads the Bills with five touchdown catches. He’s on his fifth NFL team.

Allen’s run threat expands lanes for running back James Cook, sparing him collisions. Cook, who weighed just 199 pounds when he entered the NFL in 2022, has rushed for 14 TDs, tying him for NFL honors.

Here, today, I won’t write much about Jackson and Mahomes — but there’s ample reason to not vote against either one.

Jackson has toyed with several defenses as a passer and a rusher by leveraging his astounding explosiveness that now has opponents wishing he’d not lost weight last offseason in pursuit of speed.

Talk about two-way dominance.

Jackson stands first in several passing statistics: passer rating, touchdown percentage, ESPN’s total quarterback rating (which also accounts for rushing) and, per Athlon Sports, passer rating from the pocket.

Only Justin Herbert has thrown fewer interceptions per pass.

Rushing, Jackson boasts a league-best 6.6 yards per carry and broke Michael Vick’s season record for rushing yards by a quarterback.

Any football lover who attends a Ravens game for the first time will find Jackson’s speed dazzling, and see how it distorts the entire chess match. More so than telecasts convey, he dictates terms. Last month in a stunning display of speed even for him, Jackson blazed upfield to try to lend blocking support in pursuit of speedy teammate Zay Flowers, who’d run away from Chargers defenders after catching a short pass.

Jackson, gliding without the ball, ran by Flowers and several defenders. At the 2023 NFL combine, Flowers was clocked at 4.32 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

No QB has had a better season than Mahomes, although I doubt he will finish first or even second in MVP voting.

He has led the Chiefs (15-1) to the AFC’s top seed despite poor blindside blocking in many games, losing his top two receivers and top running back for most of the season and suffering a high ankle sprain himself. Because they couldn’t keep up with the Chiefs, the Ravens and Bills may have to meet in the playoffs, improving Mahomes’ odds of winning a fourth Super Bowl title.

“Mahomes controls the entire game with his IQ,” former NFL receiver Dez Bryant said this week on social media.

Three great seasons. One MVP award. I don’t envy the voters.

Originally Published: December 27, 2024 at 9:30 AM PST