Most sportsbooks have installed Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen as the favorite to take home MVP honors during the 2022 NFL season. But the betting public is enamored with a different passer, as the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert has been the heaviest bet so far.
BetRivers.com and PlaySugarHouse.com report that Herbert (+900) has taken on the most bets (19.9 percent handle, 12.6 percent tickets) and that he is backed almost twice as much as Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals (+1200), who ranks second (9.9 percent money, 6.7 percent tickets).
Allen (+700) is the third-most backed player for the award (8.7 percent money, 8.5 percent tickets).
DraftKings, who also listed Allen as the favorite at +700, has Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady listed with the second-best odds at +800 and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes third at +900.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the man who won the award in 2021 — the fourth time he had won MVP — is listed at +1000.
But those three — Brady, Mahomes and Rodgers — trail players such as Jalen Hurts (+3300) and Justin Fields (+10000) in the early betting. Hurts is getting 6.9 percent of the money and Fields is getting 5.3 percent of the tickets.
Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry and Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, the top non-quarterbacks listed, are both +5000 with DraftKings.
Taylor, last season’s leading rusher, has the highest percentage of bets with BetRivers.com and PlaySugarHouse.com among non-quarterbacks (2.5 percent). Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (+5000) has seen 2.3 percent of the money, the most among non-quarterbacks.
–Field Level Media
