NFL Betting Props: Brady Takes the Lead on the NFL MVP Odds

With three weeks remaining in the NFL season the MVP race is coming down to the wire. And the biggest factor when it comes to the MVP race this season hasn’t been wins, losses or stats, it’s been injuries.

Major injuries to Aaron Rodgers and now Carson Wentz have turned the NFL MVP odds on their head multiple times this season. It’s also caused the oddsmakers to make Tom Brady the overwhelming favorite to win MVP honors.

The latest NFL MVP futures have Brady as a -200 favorite. He’s looking for his third MVP trophy after previously winning in 2007 and 2010. Barring an injury, it really looks like it is his award to lose from here on out. That doesn’t mean he can’t lose it though. The Patriots’ upset loss to the Miami Dolphins last week is proof of that. The deciding factor could be New England’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers this week.

Speaking of the Steelers they currently have three players on the MVP odds list. Leading the way is Antonio Brown at +500, followed by Ben Roethlisberger at +1200 and Le’Veon Bell at +3300.

Brown definitely has the numbers to make a case for the MVP. He leads the league in receiving yards with 1,509, nearly 300 yards more than anyone else. He also leads the league in receptions by a wide margin with his 99 catches, 11 more than second place Jarvis Landry and DeAndre Hopkins. But is that enough to eclipse the league’s top QBs, a position that has won the last four MVPs and nine of the last 10?

Roethlisberger, who threw all those passes to Brown, is a longer shot to win the MVP as he not only has to top his teammates in the vote, but his fellow quarterbacks Brady, Russell Wilson, Wentz, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers.

Wilson currently shares +500 odds with Brown, while Wentz, despite his season-ending knee injury, remains on the list at +1000. Those are better odds than Brees and Rivers, who both check in at +1800.

The one that deserves the longest look from that group is Russell Wilson. Statistically speaking Wilson is having the best season of his career and is on pace to set career marks in passing yards and touchdown passes. However, he’s only led Seattle to an 8-5 record so far, putting them second in the NFC West. Is that good enough to win the MVP? Right now probably not, but with an important game against the Los Angeles Rams this week and the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals to finish off the schedule he could be.

One player the oddsmakers aren’t talking about right now and have left off the futures is Aaron Rodgers. Before getting hurt Rodgers was the MVP favorite. He returns with the Packers outside the playoff picture and in need of a perfect season the rest of the way to have a chance of getting in. What if Rodgers can get them there? Does that put him back in the MVP race? Sending your sportsbook a request for MVP odds on Rodgers may be worth the risk.