Tom Brady Listed As Favorite To Be NFL MVP In 2018, Which Is Rather Insane
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- There are currently close to 3,000 players at training camps around the country. After roster cutdowns this summer, close to 1,700 players will remain on active rosters. That group will include an influx of young talent from recent draft classes, as well as established veterans who have filled out All-Pro and Pro Bowl rosters in recent years.
Yet according to oddsmakers, none of those players has a better chance to be named the 2018 NFL MVP than Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.
Covers.com shared Bet365's odds for 2018 NFL MVP on Monday, and Brady's name was at the top, with +400 odds.
Aaron Rodgers had the second-best odds, at +500, followed by Carson Wentz (+800), Drew Brees (+1200), Jimmy Garoppolo (+1600), Russell Wilson (+1600), Cam Newton (+1800) and Matt Ryan (+1800). Todd Gurley (+2500), Ezekiel Elliott (+2500) and Le'Veon Bell (+2500) have the best odds among non-quarterbacks. (The award has gone to a quarterback in 10 of the last 11 seasons.)
Brady is coming off an MVP season at age 40, just the third MVP season of his Hall of Fame career. He led the NFL with 4,577 passing yards, while completing 66.3 percent of his passes and throwing 32 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. In three postseason games, he completed 64.0 percent of his passes for 1,132 yards, eight touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Logically, Brady is the obvious choice as the MVP favorite in 2018, but it's nevertheless a jolting reminder of just how absurd this late-career surge is for Brady. In that group of six quarterbacks trailing Brady in the MVP odds, only Brees (39) is close to Brady in age. Rodgers is 34, Ryan is 33, and the other four QBs are all in their 20s.
Wentz may have been en route to winning last year's MVP before a Week 14 torn knee ended his season. Rodgers likely would have been involved if he hadn't suffered a midseason broken collarbone. Gurley had a remote chance of winning the award, but he didn't suit up in Week 17. By the end of the year, Brady was the last MVP candidate standing.
Now, even as he enters uncharted waters at age 41, he's the odds-on favorite to repeat.
It's not that folks forget how good Brady is. But following an offseason where the primary conversation regarding the Patriots' quarterback involved the questioning of his commitment after he skipped voluntary OTAs amid a reported butting of heads with Bill Belichick over the involvement of trainer Alex Guerrero, the MVP odds are a worthy reminder of just how far Brady has gone to continue to rewrite the book of how an over-40 quarterback should perform in the NFL.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
