Ravens: Lamar Jackson’s MVP odds remain criminally low

There’s no reason that Lamar Jackson shouldn’t be considered one of the MVP frontrunners through five weeks. The Baltimore Ravens quarterback has the stats, the value, and the prior success to support his case.

Yet despite this, his MVP odds remain criminally low, even after his historic performance on Monday night.

Per WynnBet, Jackson is still a +1200 underdog to win MVP. Those odds place him at a shocking eighth behind players like Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers, and Dak Prescott.

Given how dominant Jackson has been this season, and that this version of Lamar Jackson is better than the 2019 version that was named MVP, you’d think he’d be getting a little more nationwide respect.

That’s doubly true given that his career performance against the Indianapolis Colts this past Monday came on national television in front of a widespread audience.

Yet, Jackson’s odds remain puzzling low.

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Ravens QB Lamar Jackson’s MVP odds should be much higher

Truth be told, Jackson should be one of the favorites to win the MVP award through the first five weeks of the season.

From a statistical standpoint, Jackson is fifth in passing yards, eighth in rushing yards, first in yards per completion, and second in yards per carry.

No other quarterback comes close to those figures. Jackson’s dual-threat ability should give him a leg up, but you could argue that it’s actually hurt his case.

Perhaps Jackson’s dynamic rushing ability has made people overlook just how much better he is as a passer this season. One would think that after his historic 442-yard passing day on Monday that wouldn’t be the case, however.

Jackson became the first quarterback in NFL history to attempt over 40 passes and complete more than 85 percent of his passes. An NFL quarterback has attempted 40 or more passes more than 4,000 times in league history.

Lamar Jackson was the first to pass that many times at such an efficient rate. And he didn’t dink-and-dunk his way to an 86 percent completion rate. Instead, he threw for a career-high 442 yards one week after passing for a previously career-high 316 yards.

No one is doing what Jackson is doing right now when it comes to both his ability as a passer and runner. And he’s doing all of this despite his team’s roster being ravaged with injuries.

Jackson has carried the Ravens on his back to a 4-1 record. There is no player in the NFL who means more to his team than Lamar Jackson means to the Ravens.

And isn’t that what the MVP award is all about anyway? The most valuable player in the league.

Without Jackson, the Ravens are nothing. Injuries have made sure of that. Jackson is quite literally willing his team to victory on a weekly basis.

It’s impossible to definitively state that he deserves the award more than players like Kyler Murray, Justin Herbert, and Josh Allen who have each performed exceptionally well in their own right.

But he belongs in the conversation, not down only a few spots ahead of Teddy Bridgewater in the MVP odds race.

That’s disrespectful. But hey, those betting on Jackson to win MVP won’t mind taking a chance on these discounted odds.

If he continues to play at this level, you aren’t going to find a better time to place your bet than right now.