The Auburn Tigers have had a rough stretch of sending talent to the NFL since the sport became NIL-driven in 2021. AU has had 19 picks total in the 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 NFL drafts. The Tigers' impact on the league these days comes almost exclusively from Gus Malzahn's era of recruitment.
With a lack of players taken overall in the past five drafts, it's not hard to imagine that there aren't many MVP candidates from the Plains. The award is pretty much a quarterback one in the modern game, and the QBs Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze chose over the last several years to lead the program included TJ Finley, Robby Ashford, Payton Thorne, Jackson Arnold, and Ashton Daniels. The latter, Daniels, may have the best NFL shot, and it was DJ Durkin who fully unleashed him, while the Florida State Seminoles may be the ones to benefit from his game. It's been a while since an NFL QB1-caliber arm was leading the charge in East Central Alabama.
All of that said, there are still potential NFL MVPs in 2026 who once suited up for the orange and blue. They accomplished varying degrees of success during their time on the Plains, and their careers in Auburn overlapped for a short period of time in 2019.
These are the two potential NFL MVPs who were once AU Tigers:
Bo Nix
The biggest obstacle to Bo Nix achieving an NFL MVP award is the ankle injury that kept him out of the 2026 AFC Championship Game. Pictures from post-surgery look disheartening, and Nix has always relied on his legs to get the job done under center. Nix will be returning from injury before the season, but it may be unfair for him to bear the load he'd have to on the Denver Broncos to become the MVP.
While the winning record aspect of how to win the award will be covered in the Mile High City, and Jaylen Waddle's arrival in the WR room could propel Nix's stats to greater heights, it's hard to picture the former Auburn man and Oregon Duck running enough to have MVP-caliber counting stats. Not this season, anyway.
Nix is a definite future Super Bowl-caliber MVP if the Broncos could ever get close enough to the title as they were in January. A full-season-long campaign of being the most impactful player just isn't realistic this fall. Stranger things have happened, but Nix would have to be like Superman to get over the finish line.
Malik Willis
Malik Willis left for the Liberty Flames in July 2019 when the transfer portal was a completely different beast. He was at Auburn for two seasons, 2017 and 2018, even playing at A-Day in 2019 before realizing he wasn't usurping Nix.
Moving to Liberty made Willis a star. Willis had 14 passing attempts for the Tigers, but things quickly changed with the Flames.
Coincidentally, Willis dominated in Lynchburg while playing for then-head coach Hugh Freeze. Willis had 5,117 passing yards, 47 passing touchdowns, 1,822 rushing yards, and 27 rushing touchdowns in 2020 and 2021, putting Liberty on the map as an FBS program.
Willis is now with the Miami Dolphins after signing a three-year, $67.5 million contract in free agency. He proved too good to be a backup in spot starts with the Green Bay Packers last year after Jordan Love went down with an injury.
Again, stranger things have happened, but Willis has worse MVP futures odds than all but four franchises' QB options. Maybe standout Dolphins LT Patrick Paul's 4.33% pressure rate in 2025 could be replicated this fall, and Willis could show he's finally found the right NFL home.
Don't count on Willis sniffing the MVP award, but by virtue of being a starting QB in the NFL, he has a theoretical chance.
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