NFL DROY Odds Now Have 49ers’ Nick Bosa as -450 Favorite

• Nick Bosa has 26 tackles, eight sacks, one forced fumble and one interception on the season
• The analytics show that Bosa’s season has been comparable to reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Aaron Donald
• Bosa is a big favorite as most of his competition has faded over the last few games

Many people have felt that San Francisco 49ers’ rookie defensive end Nick Bosa should be in the running for the NFL’s overall Defensive Player of the Year. If that’s true, he should be a lock for the Rookie of the Year award too. The odds say as much as he’s on the board at -450 now to win the rookie award. Is he a good bet to cash in or is there value elsewhere?

2019 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award Odds

Odds taken Dec. 11

Bosa Continues to Be a Game-Wrecker

Nick Bosa continues to be a monster for the 49ers on defense and he’s coming off one of his best games of the season. As the 49ers battled the New Orleans Saints for the top seed in the NFC, Bosa finished the day with two tackles, a pass defended, four pressures, two quarterback hits and two hurries.

By Nick Bosa’s standards, it wasn’t a prolific pass-rushing day, but he still managed five pressures against a quarterback with the quickest release time this week.

He also was strong in the running game, leading the #49ers with an 81.0 run-defense grade. pic.twitter.com/cqQPdRHXOA

— PFF SF 49ers (@PFF_49ers) December 9, 2019

To put it in perspective, Aaron Donald, who is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, has just three more sacks and 10 more hurries than Bosa. Sure, that’s a bit of a gap but Bosa is a rookie and Donald is the best defensive player in the league. That puts some perspective on how good Bosa has been.

Oddsmakers Have Taken Note

It’s not just the experts and analytics gurus that have noticed how good Bosa has been. The oddsmakers have as well. His NFL DROY odds have gone from -350 on November 27th and are now even shorter at -450. It’s hard to believe that he was as high as +789 at one point this season but now he’s in the driver’s seat.

Even after his worst-graded performance of the season, Nick Bosa is still far and away the highest-graded rookie in the Top 5. pic.twitter.com/fiTeW3tQS0

— PFF SF 49ers (@PFF_49ers) December 6, 2019

Competition Has Fallen Off

There are some other players who are in the running but it’s mostly a two-horse race here. Carolina Panthers defensive end Brian Burns had his moments early on with 4.5 sacks in his first five games. He’s currently sitting at just 5.5 sacks, though, and the Panthers season has gone into the tank.

As for Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen, his team has also nosedived. He’s still having a nice year with nine sacks, 36 tackles and a couple of fumbles forced. However, he’s nowhere near the level of Bosa in terms of impact.

Devin. Bush.

PLAYMAKER. ? @_Dbush11

?: CBS
?: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/d6meepU6Nz pic.twitter.com/YjufHcm2hT

— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2019

That leaves Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Devin Bush as the main competition for Bosa but even he’s fading. Last we checked, he was at +375 to win the Rookie of the Year award. Now he’s down to +600. While he’s still a tackling machine, his numbers have dipped in that record and he doesn’t have a turnover forced or a takeaway in seven games.

What’s the Best Bet?

The bottom line here is Bosa is the player to beat. Even at -450, he’s the best bet. Bush is the only real competition here but he’s faded a little bit and even if Bosa wasn’t to play another game this year, Bush still probably has too big of a gap to overcome here. There’s a lot of juice here but I don’t see anyone else winning this award.