As one might expect, some of the best tight ends in NFL history have played in Super Bowls over the past 53 years. As one might not expect, not a single player from that position has won Super Bowl MVP. That realistically might change on February 2 in Miami when the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers face the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, who are 1.5-point favorites for Super Bowl LIV.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
That’s because easily the two best tight ends in the league – no offense to someone like the Philadelphia Eagles’ Zach Ertz – are in this game in San Francisco’s George Kittle (+1000 to win MVP) and Kansas City’s Travis Kelce (+2000). Kittle set a single-season record for receiving yards by a tight end in 2018 (1,377), barely beating out Kelce that same year (1,336).
Kittle has the most catches and yards in NFL history for a tight end after his first three years, and he’s also a key blocker in the Niners’ dominant run game. Kelce has had at least 80 catches for 1,000 yards in each of the past four seasons (yardage streak is longest-ever by a tight end), and he killed the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round of the playoffs with a record-setting 10 catches for 134 yards and three touchdowns.
Incidentally, a kicker has never won Super MVP, either. The 49ers’ Robbie Gould is +10000 and Chiefs’ Harrison Butker +12500. No offensive lineman has, either, and it’s hard to see that ever happening unless one recovers two fumbles for touchdowns or the like.
Quarterbacks dominate regular-season MVP voting and do in the Super Bowl as well, winning the award 29 times. Thus, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes is the +110 favorite and San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo next at +290. Last year, a receiver won it for just the seventh time: New England’s Julian Edelman.
The problem with backing a receiver is that if he has a big game, that means the quarterback must have too. The Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill is the shortest-priced receiver at +2000. He’s actually behind a defensive player, 49ers rookie end Nick Bosa (+900). A defensive lineman has won the award a total of three times (two shared in SB XII) and not since the Chicago Bears’ Richard Dent in SB XX.