On the biggest stage in the biggest game of them all, you go and win the biggest individual player prize in football.
You’re Super Bowl MVP. The eyes of the sport are on you. Your stock is soaring.
If you’re not tied down to a long-term contract, what do you do? Look to defend the Vince Lombardi Trophy with your teammates, or try your luck in free agency, safe in the knowledge that your earnings potential has exploded?
For four Super Bowl MVPs – including Seattle Seahawks star Kenneth Walker III – free agency was the chosen path.
Kenneth Walker III
The 25-year-old became the first running back in nearly three decades to win the Super Bowl MVP award as the Seahawks downed the Patriots in February.
Those having an NFL bet may just be intrigued to see Seattle listed as the +750 favorite to defend their honor in 2027, although the history books suggest that winning back-to-back editions of Super Sunday is a tall order.
The Super Bowl odds pitch the likes of Los Angeles Rams (+800), Buffalo Bills (+1100), and the Baltimore Ravens (+1200) as the next most likely champion. Who knows, maybe their ranks will be bolstered by Walker III during the off season?
SBLX MVP. @Kenneth_Walker9 pic.twitter.com/8qG6MuBa98
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) February 10, 2026
He will enter unrestricted free agency this month, adding his name to the ranks of reigning MVPs that have walked away from their Super Bowl winning franchise.
Larry Brown Jr
Only one cornerback has ever been crowned Super Bowl MVP.
And that man was Larry Brown Jr, whose performance at Super Bowl XXX would win him best player honors as well as acting as his swansong with the Dallas Cowboys.
Brown Jr made two interceptions in the second half that ultimately led to touchdowns, which confirmed his status as the most vital player on the pitch.
It would be fair to say that he used that performance as leverage, entering free agency immediately after the Super Bowl and heading to the Oakland Raiders in a deal worth $12.5 million.
But this is a cautionary tale. Within two years, Brown Jr had been waived by the Raiders – a staggering fall from grace.
Desmond Howard
Just one year after Brown Jr blazed a trail, Desmond Howard became the second Super Bowl MVP to try his luck in free agency.
Howard, you may recall, returned a kick-off for a 99-yard touchdown for the Green Bay Packers at Super Bowl XXXI – a highlight reel moment of remarkable individual skill. It was also the first time in history that a special teams play had led to the coronation of a Super Bowl MVP.
#Packers return stud Desmond Howard takes one 99 yards to the house in Super Bowl XXXI.
The fourth kickoff return — and at that time the longest — in Super Bowl history.
Howard becomes the only exclusive kick/punt returner to be named Super Bowl MVP.
January 26, 1997 pic.twitter.com/AnjUjIV9i2
— Kevin Gallagher (@KevG163) January 26, 2026
Not put off by their Brown Jr experience, the Oakland Raiders again paid the big bucks to sign Howard during free agency. He would spend just a solitary season in California.
Dexter Jackson
The first safety to win Super Bowl MVP in 30 years, Dexter Jackson rolled the dice and waved goodbye to his Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammates in 2003.
That triggered a battle for his signature between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, with the latter ultimately winning out.
Jackson’s first NFL season in Arizona was a relative success, but soon a succession of injuries and a loss of form saw him fade away from regular game time.
Perhaps the travails of Jackson, Howard, and Brown Jr will help to concentrate the mind of Walker III as he plans his next move.
