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The NFL is a strange place in 2021. Every franchise has lost at least two games, marking just the fourth time since the 1970 merger we’ve seen that 10 weeks into the season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. And that kind of parity impacts how we judge the league’s best players.
No Most Valuable Player hopeful is flawless this season, and the race is razor-thin. In fact, every top candidate has at least one puzzling loss on his résumé. Dak Prescott played late into the fourth quarter of a 30-16 blowout by Denver, while Tom Brady and Lamar Jackson took Week 10 losses against two-win Washington and Miami teams, respectively. Turnovers from Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford have raised eyebrows in recent weeks too. The list goes on. So who are the MVP favorites right now?
We asked a group of analysts — Stephania Bell, Matt Bowen, Mike Clay, Courtney Cronin, Dan Graziano, Jeremy Fowler, Domonique Foxworth, Kevin Seifert, Field Yates and Seth Walder — to vote on the top players in the MVP race right now. Then we used those 10 sets of rankings to give our top six candidates overall, using Heisman Trophy-esque scaling for each ranking, to determine how the field stacks up to this point. (Because it is such a close race, we dove in on six players rather than the usual five.)
We’ll also look at a few players who have seen their MVP stock either spike or plummet in recent weeks. And finally, ESPN analytics writer Seth Walder weighs in on an under-the-radar MVP-caliber player, and ESPN Chalk analyst Doug Kezirian identifies his top value bet for MVP at the moment. Eight weeks remain in the regular season, with plenty of opportunities for the league’s leaders to pad their cases or surprise candidates to emerge, but here’s a look at where things stand entering Week 11.
Note: All odds are via Caesars Sportsbook.
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Top six | Just missed | Stock watch
Under-the-radar | Value bet
2021 stats: 2,870 passing yards, 28 total TDs, 7 INTs, 65.3 QBR
Even after losing to…
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Source : espn
