Well, that escalated quickly.
Just a few weeks ago, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz was a longshot to win NFL MVP in his second season out of North Dakota State – he was tied with, among others, Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton and Blake Bortles at +10000. As the season has progressed, he began to emerge as a legit MVP candidate.
And now, with six games in the books, Wentz is the MVP favorite – at least according to one of the biggest online sports books out there, Bovada. They updated their odds on Tuesday, and just take a look...
| PLAYER | ODDS |
| Carson Wentz | +175 |
| Alex Smith | +200 |
| Tom Brady | +400 |
| DeShaun Watson | +1000 |
| Russell Wilson | +1200 |
| Kirk Cousins | +1600 |
| Drew Brees | +2000 |
| Matt Ryan | +2500 |
| Le'Veon Bell | +2500 |
| Cam Newton | +2500 |
| Matt Stafford | +2500 |
| Todd Gurley | +2500 |
| Kareem Hunt | +3300 |
| Dak Prescott | +3300 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | +15000 |
*per Bovada.lv
That will happen when your team is one of just two 5-1 teams in the whole league – Alex Smith's Chiefs are the other – and you've thrown 13 touchdowns to just three interceptions (7 TD, 1 INT in last two games).
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Currently, Wentz is on pace for 4,224 yards on 336-of-552 passing (60.9%), 35 touchdowns, 8 interceptions and a 99.6 passer rating.
As Jimmy Kempski recently wrote when making the case for Wentz as MVP, there are other quarterbacks who have posted better numbers, Smith and Tom Brady included, but none "have skyrocketed their team from, in some national writers' perspectives, a bottom-ten type of team, to what should currently be considered unanimously to be one of the five-best teams in the NFL." Furthermore, fellow MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone on Sunday, dropping him out of the race.
There's still a lot of time for things to change, but Eagles fans have to be excited about how their team – and quarterback – have been playing through the first six games. And with three straight home games on the horizon, there's no reason to think Wentz's numbers won't be even more impressive when the team hits their bye in Week 10.
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