The 2016 NFL season is shaping up to feature the weirdest, closest MVP race we've seen in a long time. Over the last 10 years, the MVP has largely been won by Peyton Manning (2008, 2009, 2013), Tom Brady (2007, 2010) and Aaron Rodgers (2011, 2014). Ladian Tomlinson (2006), Adrian Peterson (2012) and Cam Newton (2015) each won once.

There are a couple questions this year's ballot needs to answer: Can Dak Prescott or Ezekiel Elliott overcome a potentially split vote and their incredible offensive line to win the award? Does Derek Carr's season merit MVP consideration? Why isn't anyone respecting Matthew Stafford or Matt Ryan? And can Tom Brady win despite missing four games? (Spoiler: No, Yes, No Clue, Yes.)

We're going to put this to a vote and update the results every week. Specifically: We've asked our colleagues at CBSSports.com for their top five MVP candidates, along with an explanation.

Here's our full ballot with individual breakdowns below:

2016 MVP Vote

Tom Brady: 20 points

Derek Carr: 17 points

Matthew Stafford: 12 points

Dak Prescott: 9 points

Ezekiel Elliott: 9 points

Matt Ryan: 5 points

Russell Wilson: 3 points

David Johnson: 1 point

Can Tom Brady win his third MVP despite missing four games? USATSI

Will Brinson's top 5

Carr Brady Ryan Stafford Wilson

Carr's fourth-quarter play gives him the nod this week for me -- he just makes a difference for the Raiders every week and they're the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The other four guys are about to have something in common: they're all losing someone important to their team. Brady won't have Rob Gronkowski the rest of the way. Ryan has a dinged-up Julio Jones. Stafford has been dealing with no Megatron all year. And Russell Wilson just lost Earl Thomas, which puts more of the onus on the Seahawks offense. As much as those losses hurt the respective teams, it could help the MVP case for each quarterback.

Ryan Wilson's top 5

Carr Brady Stafford Wilson Ryan

Brady has 2,470 yards, 19 touchdowns and just one interception in eight games, and boasts a 113.1 passer rating. Carr, meanwhile, has 3,375 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and five interceptions in 12 games to go along with a 100.3 passer rating. And if you're into the whole advanced stats thing, Brady is No. 2 in value per play among passers, according to Football Outsiders' metrics, and Carr is No. 6. And according to Pro Football Focus, Brady grades out as the league's second-best quarterback while Carr is fourth.

Here's the deal, I left Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott off for five very simple reasons: The Cowboys' offensive line is arguably more deserving than the two guys who line up behind them. This isn't a slight against the rookies, or ignoring the fact that Prescott and Elliott haven't been good -- look, I acknowledge that Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Darren McFadden were slightly less successful in the roles last season -- but it's also hard to overlook what the other names on this list have accomplished.

John Breech's top 5

Brady Elliott Carr Prescott Ryan

The biggest move on my ballot this week was Matt Ryan's free fall from No. 2 to No. 5. To win the MVP you don't have to play perfectly every week, but there is one thing you can't do and that's completely throw a game away like Ryan did in Atlanta's 29-28 loss to the Chiefs. The Falcons quarterback threw a pick-6 and a pick-2 in a loss that could eventually cost the Falcons the division title and a possible playoff berth. Thanks to Ryan's fall, Derek Carr moved up from fifth to third on my ballot. I kept Elliott and Prescott where they were last week because they didn't really do anything against Minnesota that warranted moving them up.

Sean Wagner-McGough's top 5

Brady Prescott Stafford Carr Johnson

No Gronk, no problem for Brady, who remains atop my list after the Patriots knocked off the Rams on Sunday. I added Stafford after his impressive outing against the Saints and excluded Zeke after realizing that he hasn't even been the best player at his position this year. That honor belongs to Johnson, who I firmly believe isn't getting enough buzz. I'm not saying he should win, I'm just saying he deserves to be in the conversation. Look, it's honestly really tough to order the four quarterbacks. They've all been fantastic and they all play for some of the league's best teams. The order is bound to change during the final four weeks of the season. But if the Cardinals find a way to sneak into the playoffs and Johnson keeps up his current production (he's eclipsed 100 yards in every game this year), he'll be my MVP.

Jared Dubin's top 5

Elliott Carr Prescott Stafford Brady

I'm sticking with Elliott once again this week, for the same reason as last week: In the absence of a truly transcendent quarterback performance, defaulting to the best player on the best team seems like the best way to go. I shuffled the group of QBs behind him, bumping Carr up the list and dropping Matt Ryan in favor of Matthew Stafford, who has been incredible.