With just one game left to be played for the 2025 NFL regular season, the conversation has shifted to the playoffs, and arguments surrounding who will win the end-of-the-year awards have become just as talked about. For Patriots fans, that includes Drake Maye, who is the current frontrunner for MVP, after QB Matthew Stafford lost to the Falcons on Monday Night Football.
Because the second-year quarterback has now become the favorite, those who believe Stafford is still owed the award are coming out of the woodwork to downplay what Maye has accomplished to further push their pro-Stafford agenda, with their biggest argument being the Patriots' weak schedule.
Although that shouldn't be a valid source of arguing why a player doesn't deserve be called the most valuable in the league, especially since it has never mattered in the past, it has become the favorite talking point by Maye and Patriots doubters, mostly because they're upset that the team and the quarterback are thriving.
Unfortunately for them, some strong voices continue to put an end to their reasoning against Maye, with the latest being Super Bowl-winning QB and NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, who couldn't be a better fit for this conversation.
Kurt Warner wants to hear nothing about the Patriots' 2025 schedule in Drake Maye MVP talks
In a well-thought-out argument on Twitter, Warner easily shut down the rising schedule debate surrounding Maye and Stafford earlier this week.
What makes this better than what he wrote is that Warner won MVP in 1999 and played an easier strength of schedule in 1999. The Rams went on to win the Super Bowl that season, earning the nickname "Greatest Show on Turf," and they're considered one of the best teams in NFL history.
Yet for some reason, nobody pointed to their strength of schedule as a reason Warner didn't deserve MVP, so hearing his defense of Maye is exactly what the doubters (haters) needed.
People who are using ANY NFL schedule as a means of discrediting a phenomenal season & an MVP case is ridiculous to me!! They are all NFL players… you play the teams on your schedule, when & where they tell you… each game has its own story… and the player who’s had the best…
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) December 30, 2025
Is he wrong?
It's hard to argue against a well-respected NFL legend who knows far more about the game than anyone sitting at home criticizing teams or players, even if the MVP argument shouldn't take an expert to understand that the schedule shouldn't be a strong indicator of who should win.
Regardless, considering the number of analysts and fans who have come out strongly against the idea of Maye winning this past week, it's good to see others shut down their biggest talking point in support of the Patriots' quarterback.
It's a shame that he may lose the award to a player the NFL decided months ago was deserving of a lifetime achievement award, rather than actually giving the MVP to the player who deserves it, but that's not much different from what they have done in recent years.
And although that might become reality, Patriots fans are more focused on what the team can do in the playoffs and eyeing an even bigger prize for Maye: a Super Bowl win and maybe Super Bowl MVP.