- Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley all have +5000 odds to win the MVP.
- Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliot have +10000 odds to win the MVP.
NEW YORK – The NFL’s MVP award has only been awarded to a running back 16 times. The last running back to win the award was Adrian Peterson back in 2012 when he was a member of the Minnesota Vikings.
There are plenty of running backs in the NFL today who are living up to an MVP standard but are being overlooked due to the overabundance of powerhouse quarterbacks.
The +5000 Club
NFL sportsbooks have Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, and Saquon Barkley at +5000 odds to win the MVP.
These +5000 odds are the shortest odds for running backs on the odds boards.
Of the three, Christian McCaffrey could be the one to make it all happen.
Every year he has been in the league, he has progressed. During his 2019 outing, he put up 1,387 yards and 15 touchdowns on 287 attempts.
Not to mention he is playing for the Carolina Panthers. Any player that can bring that much attention to a team like the Panthers who have struggled for some time now, deserves recognition in the MVP votes.
Not to take anything away from Saquon Barkley but the New York Giants are just too irrelevant right now.
He simply does not have the talent surrounding him to give him the recognition he deserves.
As for Derrick Henry, he is in a prime situation as he is on an up and coming Tennessee Titans team that is finally starting to get its wheels rolling.
Henry’s odds for the MVP could even be shorter than what they are right now as he led the league in carries (303), yards (1,540) and touchdowns (16).
Compared to Adrian Peterson’s MVP season where he put up 2,097 yards and 12 touchdowns, the only player here that even comes close to that is Derrick Henry as his yardage is about 500 yards short but he goes over in the touchdown mark.
Running Backs In The +10000 Club
The remaining two running backs that are on the MVP odds board are Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliot, who both have +10000 odds of winning the award.
It is surprising as to why Dalvin Cook is even on the MVP odds board.
He is currently in a dispute over his contract and has threatened to sit out of the upcoming season. Cook also has not played a full season in the league as he has gotten injured in each of his three seasons in the league.
If any bettors are looking to place their money on a running back, Dalvin Cook is not the one.
As for Ezekiel Elliott, he played his first full season as a professional without getting injured.
He did have a slight drop off in yards and attempts but he did double his touchdowns from six to 12.
Zeke is not a confusing player to understand, he is just in a confusing situation with the Dallas Cowboys as they are still trying to find their identity in the league. If they prove to be a powerhouse team, his odds at the MVP could very well be shortened by the end of the season.
While the likelihood of a running back winning the NFL MVP is never high, sometimes the betting odds are just too good to pass up.
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Samuel has been writing professionally for 4 years. He comes from a sports writing background where he enjoys writing mostly about basketball and football both professional and collegiate. He is a recent graduate of Florida State University where he majored in Editing, Writing and Media with a minor in Communications. During his free time, you can find him watching or playing sports as well as playing videogames and listening to music.