Rodgers, LaFleur Among Betting Favorites for Top Honors
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Look out now, but the reigning MVP is back in the MVP race.
After beating the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has the third-shortest odds to win the award at FanDuel.
In the latest odds, Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady is the favorite at +300. He’s followed by Buffalo’s Josh Allen at +420, Rodgers at +650, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes at +750 and Arizona’s Kyler Murray at +800.
“He’s really good. He’s really good,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said on Monday. “The fact that guy hasn’t practiced for as long as he hasn’t, if it was anybody else, you’d be concerned. But his preparation, how he is with the team, how he is around the team, being out at practice, calling in the plays for the guys, messing with the guys, just his presence out there is as important as anything. He’s a leader of our team. To see him out there and not even skip a beat once he gets on the field, it’s just a credit to his toughness.”
Of the 13 players with odds shorter than +10000, only Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor isn’t a quarterback. Taylor is tied for eighth at +1600.
If Rodgers or Brady win, it would be an historic triumph. Former Colts and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is the only five-time winner. Nobody has won four. Browns running back Jim Brown, Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, Packers legend Brett Favre, Rodgers and Brady are the three-time winners. So, a Rodgers or Brady win would move them into second place all-time with four MVPs.
Rodgers, who embraced the chase for his third MVP last year, no doubt would love to win his fourth. However, no MVP has won a Super Bowl since Kurt Warner and the Rams won it all in 1999. The last nine MVPs to reach the Super Bowl lost in the league’s title game.
When Brady won the award (but lost in the Super Bowl) in 2017, he became the oldest MVP at age 40. Rodgers will turn 38 on Thursday.
There’s been a big shift over the last two weeks, when Allen was the favorite at +200, followed by Brady at +320, Dallas’ Dak Prescott at +700, the Rams’ Matthew Stafford at +850 and Rodgers at +1000. Mahomes was +1700, so his odds have been shortened by more than half. Meanwhile, Murray went from +1500 to +800 even while out with an ankle injury.
Also at FanDuel, Packers coach Matt LaFleur is third on the MVP board at +600 behind New England’s Bill Belichick (+350) and Arizona’s Kliff Kingsbury (+400).
Behind LaFleur, the Packers are 9-3 at the bye. Only Arizona (9-2) has a better record. Green Bay has withstood the worst onslaught of injuries in the NFL to stay in the hunt for the No. 1 seed.
“It’s been a long time” since the team had a break, LaFleur said on Monday. “It’s been, what, 12 weeks we’re into this thing. We gave them a couple days off after that Thursday night game [at Arizona] but these guys have been grinding hard. I was really impressed with everybody’s ability to stay focused and making sure that they gave their best effort last night. I thought it was extremely important that we were all on the same page there. And I was really proud of our guys’ effort, and I thought they came through.”
Circumstances might work against LaFleur when voters fill out their ballot. Belichick is coaching a rebounding Patriots team led by rookie quarterback while LaFleur is coaching a team coming off back-to-back NFC Championship Games that is led by a legendary quarterback.
Circumstances could work against Rodgers, too, if too many voters are upset over Rodgers' COVID semantics and stance on the vaccine.
