Updated NFL MVP Odds

The MVP race for the NFL 2016 season is a thing of seven names. Seven might be a stretch, but each one of them deserves mention. Perhaps, since the NFL started giving this award in 1957, there hasn’t been a season like this one. No candidate is a clear frontrunner this season. There are a handful of names who can win it, and nobody would bat an eye if they were selected.

Last season Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton won the MVP, and there wasn’t much of a discussion. He pulled away from his competitors in December and never looked back. This season, the story is the complete opposite. We saw players improved their level in the last month of the competition.

The pay per head bookies know since 2007, quarterbacks have won this award eight of the nine times it was given. Only the running Adrian Peterson took an exception in 2012.
These are the Updated NFL MVP Odds:

Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons): 1/2

Matt Ryan had the best season of his career in 2016. He led the NFL in passing rating 117.1 after tossing up 1944 yards, 38 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions. Ryan and the Falcons had the best offense in the NFL averaging 33.8 points per game.

They scored over 40-points in five games this season; including a dominant win over Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game (yeah I know it doesn’t count). The price per head sportsbooks have taken a beating facing the Falcons this season, and most of it have to do with Ryan.

Unlike Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, Matt Ryan kept his unreal level from week one to week 16.

Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers): 11/4

Aaron Rodgers didn’t have the best start of the season as his team was 4-6 in the first ten weeks of the year. What he did after that needs to be remembered as one of the best stretches the NFL has seen from any quarterback. Rodgers destroyed the sports betting agents setting lines against him by throwing 15 touchdowns and zero interceptions as his team swept the regular season table with seven wins in a row.

Rodgers finished the season with 4428 yards. He led the NFL with 40 touchdowns and was intercepted only seven times. The argument against him is his team struggled early in the season. He has won the award two times already.

Tom Brady (New England Patriots): 15/4

Tom Brady missed the first four game of the season due to a suspension and that’s the argument against his MVP case. Once Brady took the field he was nearly perfect. Brady finished the season with 3,554 yards. More than last year’s MVP QB Cam Newton who played 16 games. Brady put together an NFL mark for 28 touchdowns thrown and just two interceptions in 12 games. It’s an NFL record for TD-INT ratio.

Brady and the Patriots won 11 of their 12 games and earned the number one seed in their Conference; something Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers can’t say.

Tom Brady is not driven around individual records, but his 2016 season might be one of the best three of his 16-year career.

Ezekiel Elliot (Dallas Cowboys):  22/1

A rookie so high on the list? Well, this rookie deserves to be up there. The online bookie software is making Ezekiel Elliot 22/1 to win the MVP trophy, yet he’s the none quarterback with the best chance to win it.

Zeke led the NFL with 1631 rushing yards in 15 games played; if you remember, Elliot didn’t play in week 17 as his team had already clinched the NFC top seed. He averaged 108.7 rushing yards per game; best in the NFL. He also scored 15 rushing touchdowns. Only LeGarrette Blount from the New England Patriots (18) and David Johnson from the Arizona Cardinals (16) had more.

Elliot was the reason the Cowboys were the best team in the NFC during the regular season. He was unstoppable and showed the NFL rookies can be all around tailbacks as well.

Le’Veon Bell (Pittsburgh Steelers): 66/1

Other than Zeke Elliot, only Le’Veon Bell could be on this list not being a QB. Bell was named the MVP of the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. His teammates gave him this award.

Bell averaged 105.7 rushing yards per game as he ran 1268 yards on 261 carries. He also added seven touchdowns. What makes Bell a different animal out of the backfield is his patient. Unlike most of the running backs, Bell doesn’t hit the hole right away. Instead, he waits behind his o-line and then accelerates to gain as many yards as he can once a bigger hole is open.

There aren’t many running backs in the history of the NFL with this instinct. The bookmaker software recognizes this by putting him on the MVP watch list.

Derek Carr (Oakland Raiders): 66/1

Hear me out. Derek Carr will dominate the NFL for the next decade. He’s so gifted and talented the Raiders found a gem in the second round of the draft without knowing. Carr finished the season with 3,937 yards, 28 touchdowns, and six interceptions.

He’s the definition of the Most Valuable Player. When he was on the field, his team had the second seed in the AFC and was fighting for the top spot. Once he got injured, the Raiders dropped to the 5th seed and lost in the first round of the playoffs to a lesser team. Believe me; the sports bookies will make Derek Carr one of the MVP favorites for the 2017 season.