2025-26 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Odds Tracker
By Matt McEwan
Updated:
- Who are the top contenders for the 2025-26 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award?
- Abdul Carter is the favorite to win NFL DROY in the 2025-26 NFL season
- See the NFL DROY odds for all contenders below
Follow along as I track the odds to win the 2025-26 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award throughout the 2025-26 NFL season. I will be providing updates to the DROY odds after each major event of the NFL offseason as well as each week of the regular season. The graphs below were created by taking the average from our most trusted sportsbooks.
Top NFL DROY Contenders
Even before knowing where any of these incoming rookie defenders would be playing for the 2025-26 NFL season, sportsbooks released odds on who will win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award for the upcoming season. Former Penn State pass-rusher Abdul Carter opened as the favorite, as he is believed to be the first defensive player taken according to the NFL Draft odds. If all goes the way the odds suggest, Carter will be a Giant before the night is over.
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Maybe the most intriguing name on the list is Travis Hunter, who is expected to play both sides of the ball in the pros, as he did in college. Hunter;s DROY odds opened at +1000, which are a little worse than his opening OROY odds.
While NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds will shift quite a bit after the draft, Defensive Rookie of the Year odds don’t as much. This is the norm, as the fit and scheme defensive players are drafted into isn’t as pivotal to their Year 1 production as it is for players on the other side of the ball.
2025-26 NFL DROY Odds
Player
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Best Odds
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Abdul Carter is the favorite to win the NFL DROY award with +400 odds. Based on those odds, Carter has a 20% chance to win the award. If you placed a $20 bet on the defender at +400 odds, you would stand to win $80 and return $100.
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USE CODE SBD2DYW & BET $1 TO DOUBLE THE WINNINGS ON YOUR FIRST 10 BETS!
Must be 21+. GAMBLING PROBLEM? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO, IL, KS, KY, MD, MI, NC, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, VT, WV, WY); (800) 327-5050 or gamblinghelplinema.org (MA); (877) 8-HOPENY (NY); 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ); (888) 789-7777 (CT); 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA); 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN); mdgamblinghelp.org (MD); morethanagame.nc.gov (NC); 1800gambler.net (WV)
After Carter in the odds, we have Mason Graham (+600), Jalon Walker (+800), Shemar Stewart (+800), and Travis Hunter (+1000) to round out the top five contenders to win NFL DROY for the 2025-26 NFL season.
*At the moment, we only have DROY odds from BetRivers above. The eventual NFL DROY odds above are updated every 1-2 hours from the top online sportsbooks in the US, including DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM. If you are not currently betting with DraftKings, be sure you claim the best DraftKings promo code upon signing up.
And some more notes on past DROY odds movement:
- [April 24] The presumed first defender to be taken in the NFL Draft, Abdul Carter, opened as the favorite to win NFL DROY. He was given slightly better odds than Mason Graham, Jalon Walker, and Shemar Stewart.
Looking for the latest NFL odds? – Get current spreads, totals, and moneyline odds for all upcoming games this week here.
Past NFL DROY Winners
| Year | DROY Winner |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Jared Verse |
| 2023 | Will Anderson |
| 2022 | Sauce Gardner |
| 2021 | Micah Parsons |
| 2020 | Chase Young |
| 2019 | Nick Bosa |
| 2018 | Shaquille Leonard |
| 2017 | Marshon Lattimore |
| 2016 | Joey Bosa |
| 2015 | Marcus Peters |
Top DROY Contenders at Each Position
- Six of the last nine DROY awards have gone to edge rushers
- Jared Verse (2024), Will Anderson (2023), Micah Parsons (2021), Chase Young (2020), Nick Bosa (2019), Joey Bosa (2016) and Von Miller (2011) are the only seven edge players to win the award in the last 17 seasons, though
- Darius Leonard (2018) is the only inside linebacker to win the award since 2013
- The award has only gone to a safety twice – the last was in 1990 (Mark Carrier)
Past NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Winners by Position
| Position | DROY Awards in Last 15 Years |
|---|---|
| Edge Players | 7 |
| Inside Linebackers | 2 |
| Interior Defensive Linemen | 3 |
| Defensive Backs | 3 |
Top DROY Contenders by Draft Round
[Graph Coming Soon]
- 17 of the last 18 DROY awards went to first round picks (Darius Leonard won as a second round pick in 2018)
- 15 of the last 18 winners were selected in the top 15 of their draft – Marcus Peters went 18th overall, Leonard was 36th, and Verse was 19th
- Will Anderson (2023), Chase Young (2020), and the Bosa brothers (Nick in 2019 and Joey in 2016) are the only four players in the last 13 years to win DROY after being the first defensive player selected in the draft
Archived DROY Odds:
Editor-in-Chief; Sports Betting Expert
With nearly a decade working in the industry, Matt is a seasoned sports betting veteran. He got his start with SBD in 2016 and worked his way up the ladder to become the Editor-in-Chief. Along the way he has done everything from reviewing sportsbooks to creating proprietary sports betting tools.
