Odds to Win All NFL Player Awards Ahead of NFL Honors – MVP, DPOY, OROY, and DROY
- The NFL’s 2020 award winners will be revealed during the Saturday, February 6 NFL Honors broadcast
- The MVP, defensive player of the year, offensive and defensive rookies of the year and coach of the year will be recognized
- Viewers can live stream the entire program at 9:00 pm EST on CBS All Access
The NFL will be recognizing the best of the 2020 regular season when it doles out the league’s annual individual awards during the NFL Honors program. As is usually the case, the event falls upon the Saturday night prior to Super Bowl Sunday.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a heavy favorite to be the player earning MVP honors. In fact, the majority of the other honorees aren’t really still up in the air. That is creating the potential for some very short payouts on the odds board.
The NFL Honors show is slated to go on the air at 9:00 pm EST. The broadcast is available for live streaming on CBS All Access.
Let’s look at the contenders for each of the major awards: NFL MVP | NFL DPOY | NFL OROY | NFL DROY
2020 NFL MVP Odds
| Player (Team) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Aaron Rodgers (Packers) | -2000 |
| Josh Allen (Bills) | +900 |
| Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs) | +1600 |
| Derrick Henry (Titans) | +5000 |
| Ryan Tannehill (Titans) | +10000 |
| Tom Brady (Buccaneers) | +25000 |
| Davante Adams (Packers) | +30000 |
| Russell Wilson (Seahawks) | +50000 |
Odds as of Feb. 5th
Mr. Rodgers’ Neighborhood
At the start of the 2020 NFL season, it looked as though this award would finally belong to Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson. He was leading the NFL MVP odds right up until mid-November. In fact, on November 3rd, Wilson was the -171 odds-on chalk to be MVP.
That’s when both he and the Seahawks stumbled, and 2018 MVP Patrick Mahomes stepped to the fore. Mahomes, who was the preseason MVP choice (+600) when the odds first opened, became the betting choice on November 17 and held forth in that role until well into December. On December 2, Mahomes was the -344 betting choice.
They say the race goes to the steady, and no QB was displaying a more steadying presence of consistent excellence than Rodgers. While Mahomes’ numbers began to slow late in the regular season, Rodgers just kept on flinging.
If Aaron Rodgers is named MVP on Saturday night, he’ll join Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre and Jim Brown as the only players in NFL history with at least three MVPs.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) February 2, 2021
Rodgers ended up finishing the 2020 campaign as the NFL leader in touchdown passes (48), passer rating (121.5), QBR (84.3), completion percentage (70.7), TD percentage (9.1), interception percentage (1.0) and average yards per attempt (9.6).
The Green Bay QB was MVP in 2011 and 2014. Hell be completing the hat-trick this year.
Pick: Aaron Rodgers (-2000)
2020 NFL DPOY Odds
| Player (Team) | Odds |
|---|---|
| TJ Watt (Steelers) | -180 |
| Aaron Donald (Rams) | +220 |
| Xavien Howard (Dolphins) | +600 |
| Myles Garrett (Browns) | +2000 |
| Khalil Mack (Bears) | +4000 |
| Cameron Heyward (Steelers) | +5000 |
| Jalen Ramsey (Rams) | +5000 |
| Minkah Fitzpatrick (Steelers) | +6500 |
Watt’s Up With That?
When the odds first opened on NFL Defensive Player of the Year, the forecast was for a two-player race between defensive tackle Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams and edge rusher TJ Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers. On the eve of the award being doled out, it remains a two-player race between Watt and Donald.
The only difference is who the odds are now favoring, and Watt is up with that. On March 5, when the NFL DPOY odds opened, two-time winner Donald was the +700 chalk, with Watt at +1100.
Today, Watt holds forth as the -180 odds-on favorite. Donald is next at +220. The line has gone back and forth between the two defensive dynamos all season long. As recently as December 22, Donald was the -145 betting choice.
T.J. Watt vs. Aaron Donald for DPOY: #Steelers #Rams pic.twitter.com/R89MllLuD4
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) January 2, 2021
The statistics show why it’s going to be Watt’s award, however. He led the NFL in sacks (15) and tackles for losses (23).
Put their numbers side-by-side in eight key defensive categories and Watt is better in seven of them.
Pick: TJ Watt (-215)
2020 NFL OROY Odds
| Player (Team) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Justin Herbert (Chargers) | -1200 |
| Justin Jefferson (Vikings) | +700 |
| Jonathan Taylor (Colts) | +900 |
Justin’s Time
When the NFL OROY odds first dropped, Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow, the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, was the prohibitive +250 betting choice to be carrying off the award. Justin Herbert, the QB selected in the first round by the Los Angeles Chargers, was a distant fourth in the odds at +1400.
This quickly changed in early October once Herbert took over for Tyrod Taylor as LA’s starter and began lighting up defenses. By October 14, Herbert was the +122 chalk, with Burrow at +203.
They stayed neck-and-neck in the NFL OROY chase until Week 11, which saw Burrow suffering a season-ending left knee injury. From that point onward, Herbert made like Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont Stakes and distanced the rest of the offensive rookie field.
Rookie records set by Justin Herbert:
Passing touchdowns, total touchdowns, completions, multiple-passing-touchdown games, three-touchdown games and 300-yard passing games.
Now, add NFL Rookie of the Year to the resume. pic.twitter.com/AxQnsyGfjP
— Autzen Students (@AutzenStudents) February 4, 2021
Truth be told, even if Burrow had stayed healthy, Herbert would’ve still buried him. The Chargers QB basically rewrote the entire NFL rookie passing record book.
He finished the season setting NFL rookie QB marks for most passing yards (4,336), most passing touchdowns (31) and most completions (396). Herbert was the first rookie in NFL history to throw multiple TD passes in seven successive games.
Pick: Justin Herbert (-1200)
2020 NFL DROY Odds
| Player (Team) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Chase Young (Washington) | -375 |
| Jeremy Chinn (Panthers) | +250 |
| Antoine Winfield Jr (Buccaneers) | +1000 |
| Patrick Queen (Ravens) | +2500 |
The Chase Is Over
You don’t often witness a wire-to-wire victory in the race for a rookie award. Then again, you don’t often witness a rookie who’s as dominant as Washington edge rusher Chase Young has proven to be during the 2020 season.
He led a Washington defense that carried the team to a surprise NFC East title. Opposing offenses were required to build their entire gameplan around trying to prevent Young from being a disruptive force.
He finished the season with 7.5 sacks, 12 QB hits, 10 tackles for losses and scored a TD. According to Pro Football Focus, Young caused 4+ QB pressures in five games this season. That led all rookies.
"He really did make an impact."@RiverboatRonHC joined @gmfb to make the case for @youngchase907 to win DROY at tomorrow night's #NFLHonors pic.twitter.com/NepskYq9Hn
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) February 5, 2021
In a normal year, cases could be made for Carolina Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen as serious NFL DROY contenders. But Young isn’t a normal rookie.
When NFL.com polled 33 league experts on who the DPOY should be, 29 chose Young. On the eve of the announcement of the winner, Young’s NFL DROY odds of -375 are his shortest of the season.
Pick: Chase Young (-375)
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
