With just six weeks left to go in the 2020 NFL regular season, we can finally start taking a serious look at some of the post-season awards races and if they have any connection to the Minnesota Vikings. Thanks to our friends at Sports Betting Dime, we can speculate on two awards in particular that a couple of Vikings’ stars should have in their sights.
We’ll start with the race for Offensive Rookie of the Year, a race that has taken a couple of turns over the past week or so. According to SBD, Vikings star rookie Justin Jefferson is currently has the second-best odds in the league of being the third Vikings’ rookie in the last 12 seasons to bring this award to Minnesota (joining Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin).
As it stands right now, however, he’s significantly behind Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in the race, and Herbert is basically lapping the field. Herbert is at -825, meaning that he’s a huge favorite, while Jefferson is at +1000. The link from SBD shows Jefferson trailing Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as well, but with the Dolphins benching Tua this past week, Jefferson has managed to leapfrog him as well.
Joe Burrow had been neck-and-neck with Justin Herbert in the NFL OROY odds, but has now been removed from the board after suffering a season-ending injury in Week 11; Herbert’s odds have improved from +117 to -825, and Justin Jefferson has the second-best odds after Tua Tagovailoa was benched against the Broncos.
Barring Herbert suffering an injury some point (which, obviously, nobody wants to see happen), it would appear that he has the award locked up. Can Jefferson catch Herbert between now and the end of the year? If you’re willing to throw a few dollars at the possibility, you could potentially make a decent amount.