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After diving into team previews for all 32 NFL teams and looking at the futures markets for the Super Bowl, divisional winners and make/miss playoff bets, we turned to the awards futures market at SportsLine, ranking our 25 MVP best bets based on most profitable odds available, including five longshots worth considering. We also shared our 10 best bets and top longshots for all other awards. 

After just missing out on his third MVP last year, Lamar Jackson is the favorite to win MVP at most major sportsbooks, with the reigning MVP Josh Allen sometimes mixing in as a co-favorite. Ashton Jeanty and Abdul Carter are the Rookie of the Year favorites, and Saquon Barkley is the favorite to repeat for Offensive Player of the Year. In the Defensive Player of the Year odds market, there are three players in the mix at the top of the board in Myles Garrett, Micah Parsons and Aidan Hutchinson. There are two also main favorites for both Comeback Player of Year (Hutchinson and Dak Prescott) and Coach of the Year (Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson).

This year, there's a new award with the Protector of the Year, which is a bit different from the others, both because it focuses on offensive line play, but also since the voting will be conducted by a panel of six former offensive linemen rather than the normal AP voting body. Penei Sewell is the early favorite to be the inaugural award winner, followed by Lane Johnson.

Below, you can find the person I ranked second for each of the eight awards after digging into all the odds markets. For most, there was little separation between the top two options in my rankings, so you can consider most of the players/coaches below more 1B rather than straight No. 2 for each award.

MVP: Bo Nix +6000 (Caesars, FanDuel)

Patrick Mahomes won MVP in 2018 and Jackson did the same the following year, and neither was among thebetting  favorites for the award prior to the season. I talked about Mahomes as a great MVP value at +5500 that preseason based on the pairing with Andy Reid, and we saw the absolute best-case scenario from Mahomes that year. Voters have been chasing that Year 2 bump ever since, with Kyler Murray and Justin Herbert in the +2500 range after wining Rookie of the Year and then C.J. Stroud last year and Jayden Daniels this year around +1000.

Mahomes nor Jackson were Rookie of the Year before winning MVP, and neither was Nix, who didn't come close to pushing Daniels for the award last year due in part to a slow start. But he was great in the second half as he played at a pace of 4,299 yards, 41 TDs and 12 INTs with a 69.7% completion rate over his last 10 games.

The Broncos averaged 32.6 points across their last seven games, and while they did play some notably poor defenses, the pace they were on would have ranked eighth over a full season, finishing 29 points better than last year's Bills and 36 points better than last year's Ravens. If Nix develops further in his first full offseason, combining him with one of history's best offensive coaches in Payton could make him a perennial fixture in the MVP discussion starting this year.

I love the value in Nix's MVP odds, but there is one player among the top five favorites that beats him out in my 2025 NFL MVP best bet rankings over at SportsLine. Bet on Nix to win MVP at Caesars here:

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Cameron Ward +350 (BetMGM, DraftKings)

I can see the Titans being a great sleeper team this year, especially because they were held back by poor quarterback play in 2024. The offensive line should be much improved with the additions of Kevin Zeitler and Dan Moore joining recent top-12 overall picks JC Latham and Peter Skoronski. Tennessee's defense has potential with a star up front in Jeffery Simmons. But the player who would be most responsible for the Titans making a surprise push for the playoffs would be their No. 1 overall pick.

Rookie of the Year has become a quarterback award in recent years, with signal-callers winning four of the last six since Saquon Barkley ran away with the award as the preseason favorite in 2018 in a draft with four quarterbacks taken in the top 10, so there is precedent for Ashton Jeanty to win Rookie of the Year as the favorite. But it was just two years ago we were playing this game with Bijan Robinson well ahead of No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud further down the board.

Ward has Brian Callahan calling the shots on offense, and the Titans head coach was integral to Joe Burrow getting off to a good start in his rookie campaign that was cut short due to injury. Burrow was on a 17-game pace similar to how Stroud finished in 2023 when he won the award over one of the best receiving debuts of all time in Puka Nacua as the Texans were surprise AFC South winners. I could see a similar path for Ward, even if Jeanty performs well for an underwhelming Raiders team.

Of course, there is one candidate with longer odds I think makes for a slightly better play than Ward, who I have ranked second in my 2025 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year best bet rankings at SportsLine. Sign up for BetMGM to wager on Ward winning OROY here:

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Mason Graham +1600 (DraftKings)

Voters have a type when it comes to the Defensive Rookie of the Year, focusing on getting after the quarterback as edge rushers have won it in five of the last six seasons. It's been 11 years since Aaron Donald took home the award in 2014, but he was the third interior defensive lineman to win the award in a five-year span. Even if they've been shut out of the award, defensive linemen have been among the favorites a few times in recent years, with Derrick Brown and Jalen Carter both around +600 to win.

Graham isn't being considered in that class or even in the same class as Byron Murphy last year, as the Seahawks pick was +1000 in a draft where no defenders were taken before No. 15 overall. The No. 5 overall pick has longer odds than two edge rushers who went outside the top 10 this year as well.

Taking that all into account, I see him as a great value for this award. He'll be lined up next to Myles Garrett, who is going to draw primary focus from the offensive line and allow Graham to win in an attacking defensive scheme where he could rack more sacks than people expect if he can handle the transition. I was on the Murphy hype train last year in part because of the guy running the defense and while he didn't end up being a factor, I see Jim Schwartz as a similar defensive mind who can help elevate Graham's candidacy.

While Graham is a great value, I have someone else as my No. 1 pick in my 2025 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year best bet rankings at SportsLine. Bet on Graham to win DROY at DraftKings here:

Offensive Player of the Year: Justin Jefferson +1600 (BetMGM, DraftKings)

Running backs have won OPOY the last two seasons, with Christian McCaffrey taking home the award in 2023 and Barkley rolling last year. Prior to that, the most recent winner was Jefferson, who led the league with 128 receptions and 1,809 receiving yards in 2022 with Kirk Cousins as his quarterback the entire year.

We don't know if J.J. McCarthy will be as good as Cousins in Kevin O'Connell's offense, but Sam Darnold certainly gave us a reason to be optimistic last year by staying at the fringe of the MVP race for most of the season. Jefferson has as high a floor as anyone with the best receiving yardage per game mark in history at 96.5, and a good season by McCarthy could put him back on the chase for 2,000 receiving yards, a level no player has ever reached.

Jefferson could do major damage in the first three weeks with Jordan Addison suspended, and Minnesota's matchups against Chicago, Atlanta and Cincinnati give him a ton of upside in those games. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the favorite by the time we get to Week 4.

There's one player I have above Jefferson in my 2025 Offensive Player of the Year best bet rankings at SportsLine, though it's basically a toss-up for me between the two players. Sign up for DraftKings to bet on Jefferson winning OPOY here:

Defensive Player of the Year: Nick Bosa +1500 (BetMGM, DraftKings)

Like Jefferson, Bosa won this award three years ago, but his sack production hasn't quite been at a high enough level to put him in the race the last two years following the departure of DeMeco Ryans. The unit produced strong overall numbers in 2023 but collapsed last year. I expect a quick turnaround with the team reconnecting with Robert Saleh, who was defensive coordinator when Bosa won Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2019.

Bosa didn't really get the chance to blossom under Saleh, as he missed most of the following year with an injury while the defensive coordinator left to take the Jets head coaching job in 2021, but Bosa turned into a perennial DPOY candidate with Ryans continuing Saleh's work for a great San Francisco defense. Despite settling at the 9-10 sack level the last two years, Bosa graded out as one of the top four edge rushers in each season per PFF, losing no ground from his award-winning 2022 campaign.

When you combine Bosa's underlying performance with the return of Saleh, I believe he deserves to be right alongside the top four favorites for the award instead of well back from that tier and even behind Maxx Crosby and Will Anderson at some books. Getting him at +1500 is a great value.

Just like with Offensive Player of the Year, I could've easily put Bosa No. 1 in my 2025 Defensive Player of the Year best bet rankings at SportsLine, but I believe narrative is going to help one player enough to give him the edge. Bet on Bosa to win DPOY at BetMGM here:

Comeback Player of the Year: J.J. McCarthy +1000 (DraftKings)

Quarterbacks have won this award seven years in a row, which narrows down our player pool of potential winners nicely. I had McCaffrey the year he came back from two season-ending injuries and he delivered 1,880 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns, but he still came up short to Geno Smith, whose comeback centered around not being a starter the previous year. Even though the AP tried to point voters away from those cases following Joe Flacco winning the award based on five games in 2023, Sam Darnold still finished third in the race in a similar situation to Smith last year.

I see McCarthy's odds being at a discount with some bettors believing he can't be called a comeback player if he never got on the field in the first place. I don't believe voters will agree with that and if McCarthy can take the Vikings to the playoffs (which is a coin flip in futures markets), he'll have put up good enough statistics in Kevin O'Connell's offense that he may be the favorite for the award when votes will be cast.

Despite the quarterback bias with this award, McCarthy has more than twice as long odds at each book than McCaffrey, who has shown he probably needs to play at an Offensive Player of the Year level of production to take home this award. I'd much rather have the Vikings signal caller in case he turns out to be the latest success story for O'Connell.

This is one award where I actually like the No. 1 pick in my 2025 NFL Comeback Player of the Year best bet rankings at SportsLine quite a bit more. Bet on McCarthy to win Comeback Player of the Year at DraftKings here:

Protector of the Year: Jordan Mailata +1000 (Caesars, FanDuel)

It's going to be interesting to track this award over its inaugural year to see what the panel prioritizes among candidates. I have Mailata as one of my two favorite picks because I consider him a great value compared to teammate Lane Johnson, who has long been one of the best linemen in the league and is +750 for this award.

Despite the differing prices, Mailata was easily the best tackle in football last year according to PFF, and he's been top three in three of the last four years. With Johnson turning 35 this season, I expect the panel will give Mailata the edge if it wants to reward an Eagles player. We don't know if there will be any inherent bias in the positions played by the top candidates, and I find it interesting that the top two favorites (Penei Sewell being favored over Johnson) are both right tackles.

It's unlikely positional bias is a factor when the panel declares a winner, which could be why two right tackles are at the top of the odds board. But if that's the case, there's someone else I love as an incredible value who tops my 2025 NFL Protector of the Year best bet rankings at SportsLine.

Coach of the Year: Sean Payton +2000 (FanDuel)

We opened this awards breakdown by banging the drum for Nix as a darkhorse MVP candidate. We're going to close with the same team as I think Payton is a great play for Coach of the Year. Payton won this award in his first season coaching the Saints, and the likely future Hall of Famer did some of his best work last year developing Nix in his offense as the rookie got better as the season went on.

I believe the Broncos are going to win the AFC West over the Chiefs and if that happens, Payton has to be among the favorites for this award. Denver was seventh in point differential last year and third in the AFC behind only the Ravens and Bills, so this team was already pushing to be considered top tier with a rookie leading the charge and taking some time to hit his stride. The offense has one of the best lines in football and the defense led the league in sacks by a wide margin last year.

The groundwork is there for the Broncos to surprise the consensus view and push for a place among the best teams in the conference, while most consider them a solid wild card team that will battle the Chargers for second place in their division. I'd put Payton among the top two or three in odds for this award rather than where he sits now typically behind 5-6 other coaches.

He might be a better value than the No. 1 option in my 2025 NFL Coach of the Year best bet rankings at SportsLine, but I can see the narrative around that top pick winning out over Payton. Sign up for FanDuel to bet on Payton winning Coach of the Year here: