Saquon Barkley’s MVP push has sportsbooks’ attention

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has grabbed the attention of sportsbooks as he makes a run at becoming the first non-quarterback to win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award since Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson a dozen years ago.Barkley opened as a +30000 longshot at BetMGM to win MVP honors in his first season with Philadelphia. He had slashed those in half by Week 11 and to +5000 by last week.Still a +5000 longshot Sunday morning, Barkley then exploded for 255 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns while adding four catches for another 47 yards in a 37-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams that night. By Sunday night he had trimmed those odds to +650, as he leads the NFL with 1,392 rushing yards to go along with 12 total touchdowns.By Tuesday, Barkley had the third-shortest odds at +400, and is now BetMGM’s biggest liability in the MVP market. Only Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen (+150) and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson (+250) have shorter MVP odds.Barkley is also the -400 favorite to win Offensive Player of the Year honors, down from +2500 when the market opened. That’s well ahead of Ravens running back Derrick Henry, who is a distant second at +275 despite having only 67 fewer rushing yards.”Nobody can stop Saquon right now and the bettors know it,” BetMGM trading manager Christian Cipollini said.

On-Demand

Headlines