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Every year in the NFL, there seems to be a player who inserts his name into the sweepstakes for the NFL's MVP award despite not being favored to win it. The perfect example of this scenario is Lamar Jackson from just this past season.
Dating back to May 31, 2019, Jackson was given +8000 odds to win the NFL's MVP award in his second season with the Baltimore Ravens. It's safe to say that the people who took a chance early in betting on Jackson reaped the benefits when he took home the hardware in February.
Even two years ago, Patrick Mahomes wasn't an odds-on favorite to secure the prestigious award. Nevertheless, he emerged out of nowhere and put together a historic season in 2018 — similar to what Jackson did in 2019.
All that being said, it's more than likely that there will be a few underdogs that cement themselves as an MVP candidate next season. Let's take a deeper look and rank the five dark-horse MVP candidates for the 2020 NFL season.
5. Baker Mayfield
At this time a year ago, everyone was crowning the Cleveland Browns the AFC North champions. On the other hand, Baker Mayfield was being considered a dark horse candidate to win the NFL's MVP award.
On the contrary, Mayfield and the Browns got ahead of themselves, falling short of meeting the expectations given to them. After a stellar rookie season, the former No. 1 pick proceeded to regress, throwing for 3,827 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions in 2019.
In his defense, Freddie Kitchens didn't do him any favors calling the plays and his offensive line was less than ideal. As of right now, Mayfield is sitting at +2800 odds (according to Bovada) to win MVP next season. With a revamped offensive line and a new coaching staff in place, Mayfield could catch some people by surprise in 2020.
4. Christian McCaffrey
While Jackson deserved the MVP award in 2019, there were other offensive stars that shined bright throughout the season. The biggest non-quarterback that didn't get nearly enough recognition for his efforts was Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers.
Throughout his first two NFL seasons, McCaffrey proved that he could be one of the league's best dual-threat running backs. Then, in 2019, the Stanford product turned it up a notch, contributing 2,392 yards from scrimmage (third-most of all-time) and 19 total touchdowns.
Despite Carolina's inability to win NFL games, McCaffrey continued to be a positive source of offense for the Panthers. The addition of Teddy Bridgewater under center — who averages just 7.2 yards per attempt in his career — should allow McCaffrey to thrive once again in 2020.
3. Saquon Barkley
There's no doubt that the odds are against a running back winning the MVP award. In the past 10 seasons alone, nine of the NFL's MVP winners have been of the quarterback variety.
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Besides McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley is another running back that could try to represent the non-quarterbacks in the NFL MVP race. Back in 2018, Barkley effortlessly contributed 2,028 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns in his rookie season.
While he missed three games in 2019, Barkley still managed to record 1,441 yards and eight touchdowns. In the event that he remains healthy in 2020, Barkley could have an MVP-esque season with the New York Giants.
2. Matthew Stafford
Matthew Stafford has been an extremely productive quarterback since 2011 despite the Detroit Lions not seeing much success in the win column. Before suffering a back injury last season, Stafford had 2,499 yards, 19 touchdowns, and five interceptions in eight games.
It's already known that the Lions have a talented receiving trio of Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones Jr., and Danny Amendola. In addition, Detroit expects T.J. Hockenson to improve in his second season with the team.
This offseason, the Lions also added D'Andre Swift to join Kerryon Johnson in the backfield. With that being said, Stafford currently has +5000 odds to win the NFL's MVP award.
1. Kyler Murray
Even after his impressive rookie campaign, Kyler Murray was being considered by many to be the next great quarterback in the NFL. But with the Arizona Cardinals acquiring DeAndre Hopkins, Murray's process of becoming an elite quarterback could be expedited.
As a rookie, Murray threw for 3,722 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions en route to winning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. What makes him an even more intriguing MVP candidate is the fact he also produces rushing numbers.
In recent months, Murray has improved to +1200 odds to win the elusive award. Still, there's definitely a chance that Murray makes it three consecutive seasons of second-year quarterbacks prevailing with the NFL MVP trophy.
