Ravens' Lamar Jackson Sees Revived MVP Odds

Lamar Jackson's MVP case didn't experience a slow death, instead sustaining a series of small blows until he was gone long enough for the public to move onto new favorites.

The Baltimore Ravens' star entered the season as a projected favorite to win his third such award, and put up impressive-enough individual statistics to entertain the matter even as his team struggled to pull out wins. But after he exited the Ravens' Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs early with what was later revealed to be a hamstring injury, his extended absence did little to add to his MVP case outside from just how lost his team looked without him. Jackson's backups fell well short of his standards, while the quiet offense did little to outrun Baltimore's leaky defense.

Their 1-5 record did little to encourage bettors that any award-winners would emerge from one of this season's biggest messes, but Jackson's spearheaded a recent resurgence. Second-string quarterback Tyler Huntley did enough to win one out of the bye week, and Jackson's return now has the Ravens sitting at 4-5 following three straight wins and another division title well within their sights.

Revived Award Chatter to Match Rejuvenated Season

The star has a lot of ground to make up before he can return to his former spot as an MVP frontrunner, but he's slowly creeping up the bottom of the ballots with a full half of the season remaining. DraftKings Sportsbook has him listed with the eighth-best odds, sitting at +2500 entering Week 11.

To one's surprise, the list of candidates that Jackson has sitting ahead of him in the queue of favorites is full of his peers and rivals at the quarterback position, aside for star Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor with the fourth-best odds.

Recurring foils Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen each occupy superior spots in the likely order according to the oddsmakers, but given that they've each played complete seasons to this point without much consistent week-to-week football to offer, they've left plenty of room for Jackson to rise up through the ranks.

Baltimore Ravens Quarterback Lamar Jackson and Buffalo Bills Quarterback Josh Allen — Dec 8, 2019; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) embrace following the game at New Era Field. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

They aren't even the biggest names for Jackson to look ahead to in reviewing the odds. Second-year prodigy Drake Maye has the New England Patriots in position to take advantage of the wide-open AFC, while veteran gunslinger Matthew Stafford lurks closely behind in looking to secure his first MVP statue. Others like Jalen Hurts, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Justin Herbert and Jordan Love still have smaller cases to make for themselves, too.

Jackson's advantage arrives in how he's performed in his five full-game sample size, having maintained the league-lead in passer rating with a career-high 127.1 while posting a 15-1 touchdown-interception ratio on a 70.1% completion percentage. There's a lot of season left to play, and he has a chance to make this award season that much more interesting.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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