Lamar Jackson, an MVP favorite? What a coincidence. The two-time league MVP and reigning recipient of the award has leaped to +250 odds on BetMGM to do it again in 2024, surpassing Patrick Mahomes (+400).
Three more quarterbacks follow Jackson and Mahomes in the odds. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is +550, Detroit’s Jared Goff is at +700 and Houston’s C.J. Stroud rounds out the top five at +1100.
Lamar’s world
Across a Week 7 slate that featured many MVP candidates facing off, Jackson was the biggest star of them all. The Ravens QB threw five touchdown passes and for 281 yards, as he neared a perfect passer rating (158.1) in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. On a night when Jackson lifted the Ravens to a fifth straight win, he threw as many TD passes as incompletions and rushed for 52 yards. Through seven games, the Louisville product has now amassed 15 touchdowns, two interceptions, 1,810 passing yards (fifth in the NFL), a 74.3 QBR (second in the NFL) and 455 rushing yards (most among QBs).
Jackson is once again proving his generational status. He is the focal point of an offense that leads the league not only in scoring (31.1 points per game) but also total yards (461.4 per game) and rushing yards (210.9 per game). A third MVP would put Jackson in rare air. There are six players in NFL history with three or more league MVPs — Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Johnny Unitas and Jim Brown.
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The other top dogs
Neither Mahomes nor Brock Purdy (three interceptions, dropping his MVP odds to +2200) looked like real MVP candidates in Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII rematch. The Chiefs star was able to keep KC undefeated, but it was with rather anemic numbers through the air (154 passing yards, two interceptions). The two-time league MVP did make magic happen on the ground though, highlighted by a 33-yard scramble that set up his own touchdown rush that put KC up two possessions in the fourth quarter.
Mahomes still has a path to win MVP, especially if the Chiefs were to go undefeated. Again though, KC is not relying solely on Mahomes, who has six touchdowns and eight interceptions on the year (tied for a league-high). No. 15 is fortunate to be leaning on a defense that allows 17.2 points per game (fifth-best in the NFL).
Meanwhile, Allen is firmly in the race after getting the Bills to 5-2 with 323 passing yards and two touchdown passes in his 100th career regular season start. Allen led the Bills back from a 10-0 deficit against the Tennessee Titans to rattle off 34 straight points to close out the game. Considering the emergence of rookie Keon Coleman (125 receiving yards) and new addition Amari Cooper slotting right into the offense — scoring his first TD since Week 3 in his Bills debut — Allen appears to have a viable corps of weapons.
The most impressive stats for Allen? Through seven games, the former All-Pro QB is ranked No. 1 in the NFL in QBR (77.6) and he has yet to throw a pick. What a progression for a player who has thrown 10 or more picks in five of his six seasons.
NFL MVP odds
MVP candidates facing off
One of the best Week 7 battles of MVP candidates came in the NFC North with Goff and the Lions downing the undefeated Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnold (+1600). Goff’s buffet of weapons continue to assist the veteran quarterback, as he went 22 of 25 for 280 passing yards and two scores. His poise on the game-winning drive led to Jake Bates kicking the go-ahead score with 15 seconds to go. A Cal product, Goff has been deadly accurate this year. Sunday was his fourth straight game completing over 70 percent of his passes. After throwing four picks in the first three weeks, Goff has thrown seven touchdowns and no interceptions in the last three games.
In Green Bay, Jordan Love (+1400) one-upped a fellow MVP candidate in Stroud. The Packers defense stifled Stroud (86 passing yards) and were able to pull off a last-second win over the Texans as Love continued his double-agent play (three touchdown passes, two interceptions). You can’t say he isn’t playing at an elite level though, with 15 TD passes in five games. He has a shot at the MVP, but being tied for a league-high eight interceptions could haunt him down the stretch if he doesn’t reel it in.
Dark horse to watch
One name I’d like to note is Ravens star back Derrick Henry (+4000). The shortest odds for a non-QB, the King leads the NFL in rushing yards (873), is tied for a league-high eight rushing scores and he’s ripping off a whopping 6.5 yards per carry. With his second receiving score of the year coming in the win over the Bucs, Henry has found paydirt in each game this season, including three multi-TD games. Now I get it: The MVP tends to be a QB award and Henry has the QB who may be playing the best in the game right now, but Henry has the makings of an MVP case of his own.
Maybe he has to settle for Offensive Player of the Year, an award he won during the 2020 season and one he currently sits at an NFL-best +110 odds to win. But at this pace, he’s on track to pass Eric Dickerson’s vaunted mark of 2,105 rushing yards in a season.
A third rushing crown and an MVP trophy? That would further cement Henry’s status as a future Hall of Famer.
(Photo of Lamar Jackson: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
