There’s who wins the Super Bowl, and then there’s everything else.
The NFL is the ultimate team game, to the point individual honors can be overlooked or forgotten. But in a league loaded with superstars, it’s big for a player to be named the best of the best.
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Here’s looking at Sporting News’ awards predictions for 2016, in relation to their consensus betting shop odds:
NFL MVP
SN’s pick: Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Steelers (7/1). It has been a dozen years since Big Ben won Offensive Rookie of the Year, and surprisingly, he has been to only four Pro Bowls. He had the best, most prolific season of his career when fully healthy in 2014. His current team is built for him to set career highs in both touchdown passes and efficiency. There are whispers that at 34, with all the hits he has taken, his window might be closing. With the current upside of this offense to push for 500 points, that’s not a worry in ’16. As an elite passer for so long, he’s overdue for MVP.
Odds-on favorite: Aaron Rodgers, QB, Packers (6/1). With Peyton Manning retired and Tom Brady suspended early, he’s the only previous winner with a chance this season. Based on his previous cycle of every three years, he's a better bet in 2017.
Sneaky bet: Russell Wilson, QB, Seahawks (9/1). Roethlisberger is SN’s pick because the Steelers are SN’s pick to win Super Bowl 50. Seattle, being the runner-up, can expect a monstrous season from Wilson to be Big Ben’s biggest threat for the award. It’s hard to go any deeper than this and think about another position, too.
MORE: Another 'Top 100' ranking, another slap in Roethlisberger's face
Offensive Player of the Year
SN’s pick: Roethlisberger. Since 2000, nine MVPs have also won OPOY in the same season. High-production feature backs have played the biggest part in preventing sweeps.
Odds-on favorites: Roethlisberger and Rodgers (7/1).
Sneaky bet: Wilson or Andrew Luck (10/1). There’s a scenario where Roethlisberger may not put up the gaudiest overall totals, opening the door for either Wilson, as a dual threat, or Luck, as an all-out chucker, to steal this.
Defensive Player of the Year
SN’s pick: Von Miller, OLB, Broncos (6/1). J.J. Watt has won this award three of the past four seasons, so it takes someone who can rack up huge numbers beyond rushing the passer to take it away from him. Miller is a little bit Watt, a little bit 2013 winner Luke Kuechly. There’s every indication he can duplicate — or trump — his best season to date, which happened in 2012.
Odds-on favorite: J.J. Watt, DE, Texans (5/2).
Sneaky bet: Khalil Mack, DE, Raiders (6/1). All Mack needs to get recognized for his major impact on Oakland's defense is for it to show in the standings in the form of a playoff berth. He is coming off a 15-sack season in which he was a two-position nightmare (and All-Pro player). That’s only scratching the surface of how dominant he can be.
MORE: Comparing Miller's contract to other defensive stars
Offensive Rookie of the Year
SN’s pick: Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Cowboys (9/10). When you’re a first-round running back rushing behind an elite run-blocking offensive line, everyone expects you to run away with this. Barring injury, it happens.
Odds-on favorite: Elliott.
Sneaky bet: Sterling Shepard, WR, Giants (20/1). Tajae Sharpe and Tyler Boyd have been among the non-first-round rookie wideouts also making noise, but Shepard is in the best situation to light it up on a pass-heavy offense opposite Odell Beckham Jr.
Defensive Rookie of the Year
SN’s pick: Jalen Ramsey, CB, Jaguars (10/3). Ramsey looks the part of a complete cornerback set up to stuff the stat sheet in coverage, one who can live up to being the best defensive prospect overall to enter the league. He’ll get tested plenty in the AFC South and will get ample opportunities to make game-changing plays.
Odds-on favorite: Ramsey.
Sneaky bet: Vernon Hargreaves, CB, Buccaneers (8/1). With all the buzz Ramsey has gotten for staying in state (Florida State to Jacksonville), Hargreaves deserves more for his sunny transition from Florida to Tampa Bay. He’s proved there isn’t much difference between him and Ramsey, and can steal DPOY with enough interceptions, a la Marcus Peters over Ronald Darby last season.
MORE: Elliott wastes no time living up to crazy hype
Coach of the Year
SN’s pick: Jack Del Rio, Raiders (25/1). Mark it. Oakland gets into the playoffs, and this award will soon follow. Not since Art Shell in 1990 in Los Angeles has anyone been honored in this way for the Silver and Black; and that was for neither AP nor Sporting News.
Odds-on favorite: Bruce Arians, Cardinals (7/1). Arians, Bill Belichick and Ron Rivera all are capable of winning again, but there will be a surprise guy to reward instead.
Sneaky bet: Ben McAdoo, Giants (50/1). McAdoo was SN’s pick in the summer yearbook, but Del Rio seems a little safer call for a playoff breakthrough now. Watch out, however, when New York wins the East with Tom Coughlin’s successor.
