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Just five weeks remain in the 2022 NFL regular season, so we are here to debut the first edition of our MVP watch poll. 

A panel of 10 voters each submitted the top five names on their early MVP ballots, and those ballots were tabulated using a weighted points system to determine the leader. A first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place vote worth four points, a third-place vote worth three, a fourth-place vote worth two, and a fifth-place vote worth one. 

After all that tabulating was done, our leader was Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who checked in narrowly (2 points) ahead of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Surprisingly, Mahomes was left off of one ballot entirely, which meant he dropped into second place in the poll despite actually earning more first-place votes (5) than Hurts (4). 

Perhaps recency bias played a role there, with the Chiefs having lost to the Bengals this past weekend while the Eagles dominated the Titans, but Philly does sport the NFL's best record (11-1), while Kansas City is a couple games behind (9-3) and now in second place in its conference. That said, it does look like this is going to be a very close race down the stretch of the season. Nothing is decided just yet. 

Without further ado, let's get to the voting...

The panel of voters: Jonathan Jones, Ryan Wilson, John Breech, Jared Dubin, Cody Benjamin, Jordan Dajani, Bryan DeArdo, Josh Edwards, Tyler Sullivan, Jeff Kerr

The full MVP leaderboard

1. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (43)

2. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes (41)

3. Bengals QB Joe Burrow (26)

4.  Bills QB Josh Allen (16)

5. Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa (8)

6. Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill (7)

7. Vikings WR Justin Jefferson (4)

T-8. 49ers EDGE Nick Bosa (2)

T-8. 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey (2)

10. Cowboys EDGE Micah Parsons (1)

Most first-place votes:

  • Patrick Mahomes (5 out of 10)
  • Jalen Hurts (4)
  • Joe Burrow (1)

Most second-place votes:

  • Jalen Hurts (5)
  • Patrick Mahomes (4)
  • Tyreek Hill (1)

Most total ballots: 

  • Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow (10 out of 10)
  • Patrick Mahomes (9)
  • Josh Allen (8)

Positional representation:

  • QB (5)
  • WR (2)
  • RB (1)
  • EDGE (2)

So who will actually win?

Mahomes (+115) is the betting favorite, according to Caesars Sportsbook. Hurts (+170) is close behind, and that duo is far ahead of Burrow (+700), Tagovailoa (+1200) and Allen (+1300). So, much like our panel of voters, the betting markets see this is being primarily a two-man race at the moment. Because of the new voting system that will debut this year, the actual result could conceivably come down to who gets the most down-ballot votes and/or winds up on the most ballots, just like it did in our poll.