November 18, 2024
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Saquon Barkley is currently the odds-on Offensive Player of the Year favorite.
The Eagles are flying high at 8-2 and had the weekend off after an emphatic Thursday Night Football home win over Washington.
This first-place campaign has seen some electric performances from players on both sides of the ball. It's a rarity that an Eagles player brings home a national award, but could any do so this year?
This is a long shot. Sure, there is a good amount of football left to be played, but Jalen Hurts just doesn't have the momentum he did in 2022 when he finished in second for the league's most prestigious regular season award. There isn't a definitive favorite right now. Lamar Jackson could potentially win his third MVP and maybe Josh Allen finally nabs it, but there is no quarterback – the position the MVP award overwhelmingly leans toward – that is having some supernova-level campaign that demands the hardware.
If anything, this should be a year where there's real consideration for a non-quarterback to win MVP, but that feels quite doubtful. Saquon Barkley is only tied for the 13th-best MVP odds at +4000.
Speaking of...
Barkley has been the Eagles' MVP this year. He just had an electric performance in a prime-time game, totaling 198 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the Birds' victory over the Commanders. Baltimore' Derrick Henry had been the favorite for the award for a bit and for good reason. Henry leads the league in rushing yards (1,185) and total touchdowns (15). Barkley, however, is now at the top for rushing yards per game (113.7) and yards from scrimmage (1,347) and has taken the lead among the sportsbooks.
Barkley has 10 total TDs so far in 10 games, tied for the second-best mark of his career, but his touchdown numbers probably won't end up as gaudy as Henry's because of the way the Eagles' goal-line offense runs through the Tush Push. That shouldn't be the determining factor though. Barkley is carrying this Eagles team to a division title when it was only two months ago that everyone wanted the head coach fired. Henry's been his Hall-of-Fame self with the Ravens, but this is just a special season for Barkley in Philadelphia.
Quinyon Mitchell has immediately been a high-level outside starting cornerback for the Birds. Opposing quarterbacks have a rating of 74.6 when targeting Mitchell this year (via pro-football-reference). He may very well go on to have the best career of any back-seven player in his rookie class, but the favorite at the moment for Defensive Rookie of the Year is Rams pass-rusher Jared Verse (-250). In terms of counting stats, Verse currently has 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in 10 games while Mitchell doesn't have any interceptions on the year.
A couple of big-time INTs, perhaps even one against Verse's Rams on Sunday Night Football this week, could potentially swing the race in Mitchell's favor.
For what it's worth, fellow Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean is currently sixth at +1600, too.
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