NFL MVP odds: Patrick Mahomes now the clear favorite after Jalen Hurts’ injury

NFL MVP odds were rapidly on the move Monday afternoon, fueling plenty of speculation on social media.

Shortly after 4 p.m., the reason became clear: Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts suffered a shoulder sprain during the Bears game that could sideline him for the next two games, NFL sources told The Inquirer.

As a result, Patrick Mahomes is now the clear favorite to win the MVP award.

Most major sportsbooks were making adjustments to the award market throughout the afternoon, and numbers were moving fast. Hurts was the favorite Monday morning and into the early afternoon at most books. BetMGM had him as high as -140 to win the award, with Mahomes at +140. But late Monday afternoon, the sportsbook took the bet off the board.

Other places, like FanDuel and Caesars, made Mahomes the favorite. First, just narrowly, then, the numbers grew. After the news broke, Hurts was trading as high as 7/1 as Mahomes moved into the clear favorite position.

Here’s an updated look at FanDuel Sportsbook’s NFL MVP market as of 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19.

What’s interesting about this is how quickly the numbers moved. Hurts was favored in the late morning and early afternoon. Mahomes was then just -130 to win the award. Minutes later (seriously, like 7 minutes), he was all the way up to -200. Then the news broke, and Mahomes’ odds moved rapidly to -350.

The race for the award shaped into a two-man contest between Mahomes over the last few weeks, with Hurts becoming the slight favorite after his Week 14 domination of the New York Giants.

Hurts wasn’t his best Sunday in Chicago, where the Eagles escaped with a 25-20 win. He had his third-lowest completion percentage (22-for-37, 59.5%) in 14 games this season and the lowest passer rating (64.6) since the Eagles’ blowout playoff loss in Tampa in January. Hurts also took a beating in that game.

What’d Mahomes do? Kansas City needed overtime to beat the Houston Texans, but Mahomes was MVP-like, completing 36 of 41 passes for 336 yards and two scores while also adding 33 yards on the ground and another touchdown.

Before the injury news broke, it was hard to split Mahomes and Hurts. Both are having incredible seasons.

But the numbers moving a bit Monday afternoon had some people rightly skeptical that injury news could be coming. The MVP odds weren’t the only odds that had movement. The Eagles, 1.5-point underdogs at one point Monday morning, were trading as high as 6-point underdogs at some books Monday afternoon.

Hurts might’ve had a tough time convincing voters without the injury.

The Eagles have the No. 1 seed pretty much locked up. The Chiefs, meanwhile, are trying to chase Buffalo down for the top seed in the AFC, and have a pretty easy schedule to try to do that. Mahomes may have gotten the last word, and voters could have acted accordingly.

The upside for the Eagles is they may not need to rush Hurts back given their standing in the NFC.

But as Monday afternoon showed, things can change pretty quickly.

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