Let's Debate: Matthew Stafford or Drake Maye? How 1 AP All-Pro Voter Determined Ballot

Matthew Stafford or Drake Maye? Which worthy running backs were the best few in the NFL this season?

Those were just a pair of the debates that I had when filling out my ballot for the Associated Press All-Pro teams, which were announced on Saturday. The AP All-Pro team has been known for decades as one of the most widely recognized measures for the very best in the NFL in a given season.

I consider it a privilege to be part of the AP's 50-member voting panel. It's the same body that selects the AP's big end-of-year awards, from MVP and Coach of the Year to offensive and defensive players and rookies of the year, with those nods announced as part of the NFL Honors ceremonies at the Super Bowl next month.

I wanted to give a look behind the scenes as to how the team is selected and how a ballot is constructed. For a few years now, we each select a first and second team at 31 spots. Your first-place vote counts as three points toward the total; second-place votes count one. A unanimous selection of 50 first-place votes is worth a total of 150 points, but sometimes the vote is divided enough that you might win with less than 100.

For reference, the entire All-Pro team can be found here, and the vote totals at each position are here. They're securely tabulated by a law firm, like the Academy Awards — I accidentally left the tight ends off my ballot and had a polite email asking for them promptly.

Before we get to some of the tough decisions, here's a look at my ballot. I was able to match the actual team selected at most positions. We pick multiple players for each team at several positions as well. The names on the left of each semicolon are my first-team picks, while the players to the right were my second-team selections. 

My All-Pro Ballot

QB: Matthew Stafford (Rams); Drake Maye (Patriots)

RB: James Cook (Bills); Jonathan Taylor (Colts)

FB: Kyle Juszcyk (49ers); Alec Ingold (Dolphins)

WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks); Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions)

WR: Puka Nacua (Rams); Ja'Marr Chase (Bengals)

WR: George Pickens (Cowboys); Chris Olave (Saints)

TE: Trey McBride (Cardinals); Kyle Pitts (Falcons)

All-Purpose: Bijan Robinson (Falcons); Christian McCaffrey (49ers)

LT: Laremy Tunsil (Commanders); Tristan Wirfs (Buccaneers)

LG: Joe Thuney (Bears); Quentin Nelson (Colts)

C: Aaron Brewer (Dolphins); Creed Humphrey (Chiefs)

RG: Kevin Dotson (Rams); Chris Lindstrom (Falcons)

RT: Penei Sewell (Lions); Darnell Wright (Bears)

Edge rusher: Myles Garrett (Browns), Brian Burns (Giants)

Edge rusher: Will Anderson (Texans), Aidan Hutchinson (Lions)

Edge rusher: Micah Parsons (Packers); Maxx Crosby (Raiders)

IDL: Jeffery Simmons (Titans); Jordan Davis (Eagles)

IDL: Quinnen Williams (Cowboys); Leonard Williams (Seahawks)

LB: Devin Lloyd (Jaguars); Zack Baun (Eagles)

LB: Jack Campbell (Lions); Ernest Jones IV (Seahawks)

CB: Quinyon Mitchell (Eagles); Nahshon Wright (Bears)

CB: Derek Stingley (Texans); Devon Witherspoon (Illinois)

S: Kyle Hamilton (Ravens); Calen Bullock (Texans)

S: Kevin Byard (Bears); Antoine Winfield (Buccaneers)

NB: Cooper DeJean (Eagles); Jalen Pitre (Texans)

K: Will Reichard (Vikings); Cam Little (Jaguars)

P: Jordan Stout (Ravens); Tress Way (Commanders)

PR: Chimera Dike (Titans); Marcus Jones (Patriots)

KR: Rashid Shaheed (Seahawks), Isaiah Williams (Jets)

LS: Rex Sunahara (Browns), Andrew DePaola (Vikings)

ST: Devon Key (Broncos), Ben Skowronek (Steelers)

Stafford or Maye? An MVP debate

The first-team All-Pro quarterback nod had matched the AP MVP award for 11 years in a row until last year, when Baltimore's Lamar Jackson beat out Buffalo's Josh Allen for first-team All-Pro honors. But the same voters, turning in awards ballots two days later, named Allen the MVP.

So this year's debate was essentially a two-player race, and the Rams' Matthew Stafford got 31 of 50 first-place votes to Patriots quarterback Drake Maye's 18 votes. Allen got a single outlier first-place vote.

Tom Brady on the MVP race: Drake Maye or Matthew Stafford?

For me, the decision to choose Stafford wasn't easy. Statistically, Stafford had the best season — his 46 passing touchdowns were 12 more than any other quarterback, the largest margin between first and second since Peyton Manning had 55 passing touchdowns in 2013. The argument for Maye is often that he doesn't have the same supporting cast as Stafford, who has first-team All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua and this season's receiving touchdown leader, Davante Adams. I get this, but I also saw the Patriots face a much easier schedule, and Josh McDaniels has had a great year as their offensive coordinator. Will my fellow voters reach the same decision on MVP? We'll see.

A voting conundrum at running back

The AP ballot has an "all-purpose" spot intended to reward an extra player on offense. In past years, this could be a versatile piece like Deebo Samuel when he had more carries, or Taysom Hill when he had a larger role with the Saints. This year, it made sense as a way to reward another running back, since the ballot only has one running back spot, compared to three for receivers.

Voters were advised they could include a player on their ballot twice by having them at all-purpose, but I thought it more important to have a chance to recognize twice as many backs. I wondered if the "all-purpose" nature would funnel votes for McCaffrey and Robinson there, allowing the league's top two rushers, Cook and Taylor, to get the actual votes at running back.

'Our team fights' 😤 Christian McCaffrey after 49ers beat defending champions Eagles

The catch with all-purpose votes is that they don't count toward the running back vote points, so I wondered if a back would get lost between the two categories and miss out. Fortunately, this didn't happen. If you add up the vote-points between running back and all-purpose, McCaffrey got 141, Robinson 139, and then there was a big dropoff to Cook at 56, so it's good that McCaffrey and Robinson both found a spot on the first team, which is what carries the most weight in things like Pro Football Hall of Fame consideration.

It's a little odd that Robinson is both a first-team and second-team All-Pro in the same season, but it speaks to how well he did all over the Falcons' offense this season.

Help with the toughest positions

I try to get as much help on my ballot as possible — I reached out to friends who are beat writers on all 32 teams, asking them who on the teams they cover are most deserving. I reached out to coaches, front-office folks, even players, just trying to get as many voices and make it harder to overlook a worthy candidate. Sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to help me out.

I got help from offensive line guru Duke Manyweather, who knows as much about offensive line play as anyone, and his pick for Protector of the Year — the league's new award for best offensive lineman — was Dolphins center Aaron Brewer, a relatively new name in All-Pro circles who got my first-team vote and ended up second behind a more well-known player, the Chiefs' Creed Humphrey.

Dolphins center Aaron Brewer was Greg Auman's first-team selection for his All-Pro ballot. Could Brewer win the inagural Protector of the Year Award? (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The fantasy-football positions can be narrowed quickly just by the obvious statistics, but others are much trickier. What measure do you value most for a punter? I was glad I had the correct choice for the first-team nod in Baltimore's Jordan Stout. He led the league in net punting – always a better litmus test than raw average – and a lot of voters will use the Pro Bowl nods as a starting point, and he got the AFC pick there as well. He clinched it for me when he and snapper Nick Moore stood next to Ravens rookie kicker Tyler Loop in the locker room as he talked to reporters after his last-second miss in their regular-season finale loss to the Steelers, a kind show of support for a teammate on a tough day.

How do you pick an All-Pro long-snapper? Pro Bowl nods can help, but I reached out to agent Kevin Gold, who has a blog at Longsnap.com devoted to the position. He recommended a few players, and I went with the Browns' Rex Sunahara, who not only had pristine snaps all year but also was athletic enough to get seven tackles in kick coverage. 

So there's the ballot. I welcome your feedback — who I missed on and why — as well as who the biggest snubs were from the actual All-Pro teams as well. Hit me up at greg.auman@fox.com or DM at @gregauman on X. 

The AP doesn't post individual ballots for All-Pro, which is probably better for some. But they will be making public our votes for the eight awards. That ballot requires you to vote for five players in order for each award, which can be challenging. We'll see those ballots shortly after the awards are announced at NFL Honors.

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!