Rodgers on Heels of Mahomes, Wilson in MVP Race

Aaron Rodgers boasts a 116.4 passer rating on the strength of 26 touchdowns vs. three interceptions.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers, who leads the NFL in passer rating and has the Green Bay Packers in first place in the NFC, is right in the hunt to win his third MVP.

In the latest odds provided by Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, Rodgers’ 3/1 odds are the third-shortest. He was a total afterthought in the preseason odds after a couple subpar seasons and the lack of additions at receiver.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who won NFL MVP in 2018 and Super Bowl MVP in 2019, has vaulted to the top of the race at 7/4. Mahomes has a 115.9 passer rating and an incredible 25 touchdowns vs. one interception as the Chiefs are 8-1.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who had become an overwhelming favorite after the team’s 5-0 start, has thrown seven interceptions as the Seahawks have lost three of their last four games. Wilson leads the NFL with 28 touchdown passes to propel Seattle's 6-3 start. He’s fallen to 5/2.

Rodgers boasts a 116.4 passer rating on the strength of 26 touchdowns vs. three interceptions for the 7-2 Packers. In nine games, he has eight games with at least two touchdown passes and a 100-plus rating, marking the fourth time that a quarterback has done so in eight of his first nine games of a season in NFL history. Rodgers did it in all nine games in 2011.

“This was Wilson’s award to win mainly because his defense has been so bad. Wilson by his standards has been really bad in three of his last four games,” said Ed Salmons, SuperBook’s vice president of risk management and oddsmaking. “Mahomes now seems poised to take the award and run with it. He should have plenty of chances to continue to add to his ridiculous numbers this year, which have been pretty much ignored by the media. And he had to play two games in really bad weather [at Buffalo and at Denver in snow]. Rodgers has been very consistent and just doesn’t feel like he’s an MVP but his numbers sure add up.”

The other player in a four-man race is Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray, who has moved to 8/1. The Cardinals have won four of their last five games on the strength of the ultra-athletic quarterback who is on pace for 4,222 passing yards and 1,074 rushing yards while producing 27 of the team’s 32 touchdowns.

The top eight in the MVP race are in the video.


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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.