RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Even in a modern NFL that is changing, quarterback play is still the single biggest determining factor in team success. For the most part, teams go as far as their quarterback can take them, and no further than that. That's just the way the league works.
It can be said, therefore, that the quarterback is the "most valuable player" on each team, no matter how you determine value. But of course, that doesn't mean there aren't other players who are incredibly valuable, and who play a significant role in determining the team's ultimate success during a given season.
We're here today to identify those players. These are the non-quarterback MVPs for each NFC team for the 2026 season.
If all goes according to plan for the Cowboys this year, their defense will show significant improvement. Williams is the key to making that happen, wrecking games from the interior of the defensive line. In Christian Parker's Vic Fangio-style defense, the penetrating defensive tackle has a huge role to play, and Williams is one of the best two-way interior linemen in the league, making him well-suited to success here.
Carter didn't have the flashy sack numbers that defensive linemate Brian Burns did last season, but Carter actually generated pressure at a higher rate, recording a sack, hit or hurry on 14.0% of his pass-rush snaps compared with 12.1% for Burns. If he can do a better job of converting pressures into sacks this season than he did a year ago, he has a chance to emerge as one of the top edge rushers in the NFL .
This one is pretty simple. Just look at the on-off splits (120-62-1 vs. 18-27) for the Eagles offense when Johnson is in the lineup over the last several years and you'll see how important he is. The offense basically falls apart whenever he's out of the lineup. Philly drafted an eventual successor this year in Markel Bell , but he's unlikely to uphold Johnson's standard as a rookie switching sides of the line. Johnson might be the most important player on the team, even including Jalen Hurts .
The Commanders spent a boatload of money and draft capital this offseason to transform their defense, but their biggest investment was in Styles, an absurdly athletic linebacker who makes plays all over the field. They need him to do a little bit of everything in Dan Quinn's defense, from ranging sideline to sideline to blitzing to covering backs and tight ends. This was one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season, so Styles certainly has his work cut out for him.
Loveland showed during his rookie season that he was well worth the No. 10 pick in the draft. He finished the year with 58 catches for 713 yards and six touchdowns, and he exploded down the stretch and in the playoffs. (In his final four games of the year, he caught 28 passes for 378 yards and two scores.) With DJ Moore no longer in town, he figures to be the focus of the passing attack for Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams , and he has the skill set to be a star at the position.
After a down year in 2025, the Lions reshaped their offensive line this offseason, and the makeover included shifting Sewell from the right side of the line to the left. He has been one of the best tackles in football for years, but now he'll arguably be playing an even more valuable role on Jared Goff's blind side. How he fares in his transition from one side of the line to the other will go a long way toward determining how this new-look line fares in 2026.
Parsons is going to miss a non-insignificant portion of the season, but he is so good and so key to what the Packers are going to want to do defensively that we can't help but pick him here. There are very few pass rushers in the NFL who can do what Parsons does when he's at his best, and if he returns to the field at anything close to his best coming back from his torn ACL, he's going to be the best player on this team by a significant margin, and provide a huge lift to the defense over the second half of the year.
Jefferson is coming off the worst year of his career, having averaged only 61.6 receiving yards per game after topping 87.5 in each of his first five NFL seasons. That was with J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, though, and with Kyler Murray under center he should be back to his usual self. Jefferson wins inside and out, down the field and in both the short and intermediate zones. He both opens things up for everyone else and dominates when the ball is thrown his way. He'll be back to proving he's a top-three wideout this season.
Robinson finished last season with 1,478 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, and he led the NFL with 2,298 yards from scrimmage. He just signed a monster contract and he is again going to be the centerpiece of the Atlanta offense. With major question marks at quarterback, the Falcons are going to depend on him to carry the load. If he's not the team's MVP, something has probably gone very wrong in Atlanta.
The Panthers are surely hoping that Phillips is their MVP after handing him a four-year, $120 million contract this offseason. When healthy, Phillips has been very good both rushing the passer and stopping the run, and he's heading into his physical prime at 27 years old. Carolina desperately needs someone to get after the quarterback after struggling to do so for the last several seasons, and Phillips is the guy the Panthers are counting on to do it at a high level.
Like Phillips, Young is heading into his prime years at 27 years old. He's also coming off the best season of his career, having picked up 10 sacks, 11 tackles for loss and 15 quarterback hits in just 12 games. He ranked sixth in the NFL with an 18.2% pressure rate, according to TruMedia, picking up a sack, hit or hurry at a higher rate than everyone except Will Anderson Jr. , Nik Bonitto , Parsons, Phillips and Josh Hines-Allen .
Wirfs missed five games last year due to injury, but still performed well enough to make the Pro Bowl. During his career, the Bucs have experienced a huge drop-off in EP...
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