2025-26 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Odds Tracker

• 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 NFL DROY odds table below presents you with the best odds available for each player in your region, and gives you the option to compare across all sportsbooks in your region ; while the graphs below were created by taking the average from our most trusted sportsbooks.

Top NFL DROY Contenders

Abdul Carter is the heavy favorite to win the NFL DROY award with +210 odds. Based on those odds, Carter has a 32.3% chance to win the award. If you placed a $20 bet on the new Giants defender at +210 odds, you would stand to win $42 and return $62.

Though Carter has only recorded a half-sack through his first two games in the NFL, he has posted six hurries and two QB hits. He remains such a heavy favorite because no other rookie defender has made much noise through the first two weeks either.

The top NFL DROY contenders are as follows:

1. Abdul Carter (+190 consensus odds)
2. Jalon Walker (+700)
3. Mykel Williams (+1000)
4. James Pearce Jr (+1100)
5. Mike Green (+1200)

The biggest risers in NFL DROY odds following Week 2 are:

• James Pearce Jr: the rookie edge-rusher helped the Falcons pressure JJ McCarthy all night, and he saw his DROY odds improve from +1600 to +1100.
• Andrew Makuba: after six combined tackles, a half-sack, and an interception that he returned for 41 yards in Week 2, Makuba saw his DROY odds go from +10000 to +6250.

And the players falling in the NFL DROY odds are:

• Landon Jackson: landing on the PUP prior to the season has seen Jackson’s odds continue to fade.

The NFL DROY odds above are updated every 15 minutes 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.

Top 5 Top 10 11 to 20 21 & Up

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 was believed to be the first defensive player taken according to the NFL Draft odds.

The odds were correct and Carter became a Giant on Night 1 of the Draft – he also remained a heavy favorite to win the DROY award.

Maybe the most intriguing name on the list is Travis Hunter, who is playing snaps on both sides of the ball, has seen his odds going up and down a bit to start the season. He has fallen out of the top ten contenders following Week 1, though.

While NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds shifted quite a bit after the draft, Defensive Rookie of the Year odds didn’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

And some more notes on past DROY odds movement:

• [August 15] Mike Green had been drawing praise in training camp and the early preseason, resulting in his DROY odds shortening from an average of +1500 to +1200
• [April 25] After being drafted by the Browns, Mason Graham saw his DROY odds fade from as short as +600 to +1075. Mykel Williams, on the other hand, saw his odds improve from +1500 to +875 after hearing his name called by the 49ers.
• [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

Top DROY Contenders at Each Position

EDGE IDLs ILBs DBs

• 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

Top DROY Contenders by Draft Round

1st Round 2nd Round

• 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:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018