Who Will be the 2020-21 NFL MVP?
The 2020-2021 NFL season kicked off almost two months ago, but we are already looking at who may be the Most Valuable Player in the end.
Since the 50s, the media has been presenting the MVP award to the league’s most deserving candidate.
On February 5th, just days after Lamar Jackson wrote history as the second player to receive a unanimous selection for the award (the first being Tom Brady in 2010) and the second youngest (after Jim Brown in the 50s), Patrick Mahomes opened as the favorite for the 2020 season.
And Mahomes also entered the season, on September 9th, as the clear favorite for the award, only to be overthrown days later.
Since September 22nd, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is the clear favorite at winning the MVP award. The actual award will be handled in February, but the NFL Betting is on already.
And here is how the top six favorites stand, with odds from Unibet:
Russell Wilson (+100)
Wilson has never received a vote for the NFL MVP Award. This season, though, it may look different. His Seahawks are the fifth favorite at winning the championship, despite losing only the last match, 34-37 with the Arizona Cardinals
The 31-year-old became the second player to pass for at least 30,000 yards and rush for over 4,000 yards in his career, and also set a record for the most touchdown passes in his team’s first three games with 14. Then, he tied the record for the most touchdown passes in his team’s first six games with 22.
Should we go on to state why the Super Bowl XLVIII is clearly the favorite? Oh, and he was the player of the month in September.
Patrick Mahomes (+450)
And there is Mahomes. His Kansas City Chiefs had a very good start, with 6 wins out of 7 games. The team is the clear favorite at winning the championship, but Mahomes is not so at the MVP award.
He was the clear odds leader until a month or so ago, but his few struggles and how good Wilson is behaving have dragged him second. Even though he became the fastest player to reach 10,000 career passing yards, in 34 games, the last Super Bowl’s MVP and the 2018 season’s MVP will have to settle for the second position for now.
The quarterback is only 25 years old, so he’s got all the time to get himself more MVP awards.
Aaron Rodgers (+450)
Rodgers rose to this spot at the beginning of October, after a four touchdown performance. The 37 years old Green Bay Packer quarterback won the MVP for 2011 and 2014 seasons, and the Super Bowl XLV and the MVP for that game.
In Week 4, besides the touchdown performance, he became the 11th player with more than 4,000 career passes.
Tom Brady (+1200)
For that matter, Tom Brady is second, with more than 6,500 passes. And although he is 43 years old, the New England Patriots quarterback is as good as he gets.
This season, he became the third player to attempt 10,000 passes, the second player to pass for over 75,000 career yards, the first starting quarterback to win 250 career games, the second player to pass for 550 career touchdowns, the oldest player to throw five touchdown passes in a game, and also the NFC offensive player of October.
He is also the player with the most Super Bowl rings – six. He was four times the Super Bowl MVP, and three times the MVP of the NFL season. What else to be said?
Kyler Murray (+1800)
Murray entered the top five MVP favorites soon after the seasons started. He was just shy of being the October NFC offensive player, but he won the award for Week 5 and Week 7.
Murray is only 23 years old, being his second season for the Arizona Cardinals. In 2019, he was the first pick at the NFL Draft, and in the same year the quarterback won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Lamar Jackson (+2000)
We couldn’t have the list without last season’s winner. Even though he is only the sixth regarding the odds, Lamar had a fairly good start of season. In Week 1, he won the offensive player award for the AFC. Also, in Week 4, he became the fastest quarterback to reach 5,000 career passing yards and 2,000 career rushing yards, in 35 games.
He can though catch up, especially given his last season’s incredible performance, but also his Baltimore Ravens being the second favorite at winning the championship, with 5 wins out of the first 6 games.