Patrick Mahomes Is Early Betting Favorite to Win the 2021 NFL MVP Award

Despite playing one of the toughest games of his football career at Super Bowl LV, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been installed as the early betting favorite to win the 2021 NFL MVP award.

Mahomes threw two interceptions, got sacked thrice, and faced a Super Bowl record 29 pressures from the Tampa Bay defense at Super Bowl LV. The Chiefs lost 31-9 as a 3-3.5 point betting favorites at the NFL’s best betting sites.

The Kansas City signall caller also underwent toe surgery last Wednesday to address an injury that bothered him during the latter part of the regular season and throughout the playoffs. But despite all those, Mahomes is still the oddsmakers’ choice as the early 2021 MVP favorite

Early Favorite to Win 2021 MVP

According to the first NFL 2021 MVP odds posted by DraftKings, Mahomes is the +500 odds on favorite to take home his second MVP award. Mahomes was named as the NFL’s MVP in 2018 when he became only the 2nd quarterback in the history of the NFL to throw for 5,000+ yards with 50+ passing touchdowns and the 7th to pass for at least 5,000 yards.

Patrick Mahomes early favorite to win 2021 NFL MVP award https://t.co/dErLAHB5Ht pic.twitter.com/vArDEIWcRT

— Reuters (@Reuters) February 14, 2021

The following season, Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to a victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV, the franchise’s first win in 50 years. Mahomes was named as Super Bowl MVP to become the youngest quarterback and the third-youngest player ever to win the award.

This past season, Mahomes paced the Chiefs to the best regular-season record in the league at 12-2. As the top seed of the 2020 NFL Playoffs, the Chiefs were the betting favorites to repeat as champions. But after a strong performance against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC title game, Mahomes succumbed to the Bucs defense.

Coming off a season where he threw for 4,740 passing yards with 38 touchdowns, he is expected to be motivated to reclaim the Super Bowl title, and along the way, win his second MVP award. With his toe injury settled, Mahomes should be better than ever next season.

Coming off Third MVP

Coming off his third MVP award, the Green Bay Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers is next to Mahomes in the early odds board at +800.  The 37-year old Rodgers received 44 out of a total of 50 first place votes from media members to join Tom Brady, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning as the only players in the history of the NFL to win at least 3 MVP awards.

Undisputed 🏆🏆🏆

Aaron Rodgers wins his third NFL MVP 💪 pic.twitter.com/Y2AHZSNxzg

— ESPN (@espn) February 7, 2021

Rodgers had one of his best statistical seasons in 2020, leading the Packers to a 13-3 record. He became the third player in NFL history, after Johnny Unitas and Brady, to lead the league in passing touchdowns while also throwing the fewest turnovers among starting QBs. Rodgers recorded a career-high 84.4 in total QBR which was the highest mark since ESPN began recording the statistic 15 years ago.

But no player has won back to back NFL MVP awards since Peyton Manning won his 3rd and 4th MVP trophies in 2008 and 2009. Mahomes could not do it in 2019, and after him, Lamar couldn’t replicate the feat last season. But the recently engaged Rodgers is playing some of the best football of his career and is aging like fine wine.

Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Seattle’s Russell Wilson are next at +1300 in the current odds board while the recently traded Matthew Stafford has the fourth shortest odds at +1500. Super Bowl LV MVP Tom Brady, who beat both Mahomes and Rodgers during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ championship run, is tied with 2019 MVP Lamar Jackson in the latest listing at +1600 each.