NFL nut Kyle Robins (@AhhYeahKyleYeah) shares his expert opinion on the best bets available from Sunday night's wildcard encounter from Chicago.
NFL 2019/20: Awards
With the NFL season almost upon us, with it comes the hunt for the individual player awards, and none more sought after than the famous Most Valuable Player trophy. The award is primarily a quarterback favoured one, with just one non-quarterback taking the honours since 2007.
Last year’s winner Patrick Mahomes would have been a huge outside to take home the award, so fair play if you manage to get a big price on him, but the 5/1 on offer for him to repeat the feat this year is just too short for me.
The man I’m favouring in this market, funnily enough is the same quarterback I’m looking at taking home the Comeback Player of the Year Award too. Now if you haven’t guessed already, that man is of course, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.
The Philly signal caller has had a torrid time of things this past year or two, ever since completely rupturing his knee during a game with the LA Rams, in a season he was basically on route to winning the MVP award.
With a full healthy off season behind him now, Wentz is in a prime position to have an outstanding campaign. Given the array of talent the Eagles have on offense as well as one of, if not possibly the best offensive line in the game protecting him, all signs are pointing to Wentz re finding his MVP form of 2017 and get back to tearing teams apart on a weekly basis.
Most experts have the Eagles going either 13-3 or 12-4. If that’s the case, Wentz will have a major role to play in getting the Eagles there, and the 16/1 with Bet365 is certainly a price I’ll be taking.
If you don’t fancy that however, the 12/1 with Sportingbet for Wentz to take home the Comeback Player of the Year award, to me, looks far less of a risk. Given he’s up against a limited number of players who missed time last year, and the Eagles projected record for this season, Wentz should certainly have more of a chance in this Market at being successful.
I’m also extremely high on Cam Newton this year (Injury permitting). He looked back to his 2015 MVP form the start of last season, before his shoulder issue. Having off season surgery and a full camp behind him, given the weapons he has offensively, the 66/1 with SkyBet Is without a doubt a price I’ll be taking too.
Flipping the book a little now, I’ll take a short look at the Defensive Player of the Year market and all that goes with it.
Last year’s winner Aaron Donald is just an absolute freak, and rightly sits atop the market, at a best price 7/2 with RedZone to become the first ever player to win three consecutive awards. However, my vote goes for the man who took home these honours back in 2016.
Khalil Mack was traded to the Bears a short wat into to the start of last season, and proceeded to go on an absolute tear, turning them into what was probably the NFL’s fiercest defence. Yes, he did finish someway behind Donald in the Sacks table, 12.5 to Donald’s 20.5, but he had a career-high six forced fumbles, and given the full off-season with his new team this time round, he certainly looks set to flourish once again.
Chicago should once again have one of the better defences, and that should certainly help Mack’s route to this award. The 5/1 on offer with Unibet is a good enough price for me.
Last but not least, it’s the Coach of the Year Award. I’ll keep this short. The 16/1 on offer with SkyBet for the big man from Kansas City, Andy Reid, is far too high to be ignored.
The Chiefs have done nothing but upgrade this off-season, especially on the defensive side of the ball, where they struggled in the bigger games last year. They seem to have well and truly gone all in, and with Mahomes ability to pretty much make any receiver into a star, I think Kansas City could be in for a huge year this season, and Reid could weep the benefits of that too.
Best Bets
NFL 2019/20 – Carson Wentz to be MVP (16/1 Bet365)
NFL 2019/20 – Cam Newton to be MVP (66/1 SkyBet)
NFL 2019/20 – Khalil Mack to be Defensive Player of the Year (5/1 Unibet)
NFL 2019/20 – Carson Wentz to be Comeback Player of the Year (12/1 Sportingbet)
NFL 2019/20 – Andy Reid to be Coach of the Year (16/1 SkyBet)
