2020 Offensive Player Of The Year Odds & Predictions
The NFL Season is inching closer and it will be interesting to see if some of the games will have fans in the stands. I know that Texas has stated they will allow 25% of the fans into their stadiums for all live sporting events starting next week. That will be different for sure. Still, it is a positive sign that we will see a full NFL season this year. I sure hope so. Okay, enough jibber-jabber. Today, we are here to discuss the NFL Offensive Player of the Year award that will be handed out at the end of the season. As with most of my other lists like this, I will count down from 10-1 as far as how I see the race for the OPOY will go. Let’s rock-&-roll.
All Odds are courtesy of FanDuel.
10) DeAndre Hopkins (+4100): Deandre Hopkins is actually 16th on the odds list at FanDuel but I see him finishing in the top 10. Hopkins is coming over from Houston where he spent the first seven years of his career. In the least three years, he has averaged 1371.7 yards receiving in his last three years, along with hanging up 31 TDs over that stretch. He is coming to an offense that has larry Fitzgerald but Hopkins will be the main guy this year and Kyler Murray is now in his 2nd season, so he should have a big one this year. Hopkins is one of the best wide receivers in the league and he deserves to be on this list.
9) Kyler Murray (+3200): Murray is 11th on the odds list but I feel he belongs in the top 10 here. You will find throughout the course of the year that I am high on the Cardinals and part of it is because they upgraded their defense, but a bigger part is that they have an improved running game and Murray tossing the ball to his new toy, DeAndre Hopkins. Murray threw for 3722 yards and 20 TDs last year while also rushing for 544 yards and four TDs. He is a dual-threat QB that will put up at least 4000 yards passing this year. He should have at least 400 yards rushing and while that number is down from last year, it still is solid. We also note that with an improved offensive line, he won’t be running for his life as much. Murray will just sit back and throw bombs to Hopkins and Fitzgerald all day. Murray deserves to be in the Top 10 this year.
8) Ezekiel Elliott (+2800): The Cowboys will be an offensive Machine this year, led by Dak Prescott and three of the best WRs in the league, but do not count out Elliott from having a huge season as well. The passing game will only open up holes for Dallas’ star running back to plow through. Elliotts has averaged 1351 yards rushing in his four years in the league, he has won the rushing title twice and had 1357 yards on the ground with 12 TDs. Oh, he also had 987 yards receiving and five more TDs the last two years. The Cowboys are lead by their passing game but Ezekiel is still one of the most dangerous running backs in the league and he will have another big season.
7) Derrick Henry (+2100): Derrick Henrey rushed for a total of 1134 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first two years in the league. In 2018, he finally showed some promise by rushing for 1059 yards and 12 TDs, while doing so at 4.9 yards per pop. Last year, the ex-Alabama RB exploded for 1540 yards and 16 TDs, while posting a yards per attempt average of 5.1. He also had 206 yards receiving and 2 TDs last year. The Titans rely on him a lot and they will do so again, which clearly puts him on this list.
6) Saquon Barkley (+2100): Barkley has a solid first two seasons in the league. He did rush for 304 yards less last year than he did in 2018 but he also played in three fewer games. Still, he has put up 2310 yards rushing and 17 TDs in his first two years while also grabbing 143 receptions for 1149 yards and 6 TDs as well. Barkley is a home run threat any time he touches the ball and he will pile up the yards both rushing and receiving. The Giants have also upgraded their offensive line some and that will help Barkley out a lot. He should post around 1200 yards rushing and another 600 or 700 yards receiving and that puts him 6th on the list for the Offensive Player of the Year Award.
5) Michael Thomas (+1800): Thomas won the OPOY award last year but he will not win it this year. He is the best wide receiver in the league and had 1725 yards receiving and nine TDs last year but I see those numbers going down some. Drew Brees is not getting any young and the Saints have added Emmanuel Sanders from San Francisco, who will steal away some of the yards from Thomas. Don’t get me wrong, Michael will still have a big year as he has averaged 1378 yards receiving and 8 TDs in the last four years but with Sanders on board, he will not have the monster season he did a year ago. FanDuel has him 5th on their odds list and so do I.
4) Russell Wilson (+1600): Wilson had a huge season last year which saw him hang up 4110 yards passing with 31 TDs and just five INTs. He also had 342 yards rushing and three more TDs. Russell is a bonafide dual-threat QB that has a chance to rack up some big numbers. He has rushed for 3993 yards and 19 TDs in his first eight years in the league. We also note that he has thrown 227 touchdowns, compared to just 68 INTs and he has a career passer rating of 101.2. Wilson has an improved running game this year and he has some very nice weapons to throw to in Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, and Philip Dorsett. He is also durable, playing in all 16 games in each year of his career so far. I will look for Russell Wilson to have another big year but he will fall a bit short of Offensive Play of the Year.
3) Lamar Jackson (+950): I am flipping Lamar Jackson and Christian McCaffery from what FanDuel has and I will explain more once I get to McCaffery. Lamar Jackson had an amazing season last year and he ended up winning the league MVP. Still, I do see his stats coming down just a tad from last year when he threw for 3127 yards with 36 TDs and just six INTs while also rushing for 1206 yards and seven TDs. I just can’t see him putting up that many rushing yards this year, especially since teams have probably been working overtime for ways to stop him. The Ravens have also added JK Dobbins, who will probably take some of his rushing numbers away as well. Jackson will have another big year but I feel that he will end up 3rd in the OPOY balloting.
2) Christian McCaffery (+1300): I have McCaffery in this spot is due to the fact that McCaffery is the only real offensive weapon that the Carolina Panthers have. Yes, they signed Teddy Bridgewater but still, the WR corps is thin. Christian racked up 1387 yards rushing and 1005 yards receiving while also posting 19 total TDs last year. As I said, he is the offense on this team. Carolina does have DJ Moore and they have added Robby Anderson but still, McCaffery is a threat to take it to the house anytime he touches the ball and he can beat you both running the ball or catching it. I will look for him to finish 2nd in the OPOY balloting.
1) Patrick Mahomes (+650): It really wasn’t hard to put Patrick Mahomes as the winner of the Offensive Player of the Year award. He missed out on league MVP and OPOY last year, despite throwing for 4031 yards with 26 TDs and five INTs. Those are not the best numbers in the league, but they are very good and he now has 76 touchdown passes to just 17 INTs the last two years. The Chiefs have added a solid RB in Clyde Edwards-Hellaire and he will help open up more throwing lanes for Mahomes to hit some big plays down the field. Mahomes did have 5097 yards passing, along with 50 TD passes two years ago and I will call for his numbers to be closer to those, than last year's numbers. Give it to Mahomes this year.