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New York Giants: Two Players Are NFL MVP Favorites

By Todd Salem

Posted on July 8, 2017

With the release of the preseason NFL MVP odds, two New York Giants players find themselves in the top 40. Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. both offer intriguing value on an MVP wager.

(Photo Credit: profootballweekly.com)

The following article has been culled from my New York Giants team coverage at Pro Football Spot.

This week, Vegas released its odds for who will take home the NFL MVP award for the 2017 football season. There were few surprises at the top of the list. Quarterbacks Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Derek Carr lead the way with the lowest odds. Ezekiel Elliott is 20/1 to win the award, having the worst odds of any non-quarterback in the league.

Traveling a bit further down the list, two New York Giants players pop up in the top 40. Eli Manning is given 50/1 odds of winning league MVP, while Odell Beckham Jr. has 66/1 odds to do the same.

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Both players’ odds present rather intriguing value for a wager, if one were so inclined. Manning, along with a number of the other quarterbacks given 50/1 odds, is great value. He plays on a team that should challenge for a playoff spot all season. That is key. He is the quarterback of this team; obviously important. Manning’s offense should be high-powered and put up a ton of stats, which is also vital. Taking a 50/1 shot that all the pieces come together for this team and Manning isn’t bad at all. There is really only one thing that could submarine such a bet if New York runs rampant. That is Beckham.

If the Giants do indeed put up great numbers this year on offense and win a bunch of games, it will be because of the passing offense. But the heart and soul of that offense is not really Manning behind center; it is OBJ. The past three years, Beckham has dominated the team in targets, receptions, and yards. He is the backbone of the offense. Even though a number of weapons were added around him, everything works through him.

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With 66/1 odds of winning MVP, Beckham presents fascinating value. His odds are better than Manning’s because of positional bias and nothing more. Think of their situation similar to that of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones in Atlanta. When Jones had a huge 2016, so did Ryan. The receiver is at a decided disadvantage. Beckham can overcome that by getting in the end zone more than Jones did, but by also dominating the headlines and talk surrounding the Giants. This is something Jones never did, but it would play a key role in an MVP run.

Both Manning and Beckham are long shots for a reason. A lot will have to go right for either one to be in contention for MVP late in the year. But the odds are so high that both are worth following.

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Todd Salem is a Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp. He’s also the New York Giants Lead Writer at Pro Football Spot, a Staff Writer for NFL Spinzone, and a Featured Columnist at College Sports Madness, among others. Follow him on Twitter.