The NFL and gambling go together rather well. Everyone likes football and a whole lot of people like gambling on football is a perfect match. On Thursday, Bodog released its odds for players winning the NFL MVP and Rookie of the Year awards. Believe it or not, there are some Arizona Cardinals on the list and are not included in the category o "the field."
The crazy thing is that the guy that we all would most likely choose as the most likely MVP candidate is not the guy with the best odds on the Cardinals.
According to the odds, Aaron Rodgers is the favorite, listed as a 11/2 favorite. In fact, the first eight guys on the list are all quarterbacks. It goes Rodgers, Tom Brady (13/2), Michael Vick (17/2), Phillip Rivers (9/1) and Drew Brees 10/1 as the top five.
As for the Cardinals, it is Kevin Kolb, not Larry Fitzgerald that is the odds on favorite on the team to be the 2012 MVP.
Fitzgerald is a 50/1 favorite and Kolb is listed at 35/1.
On the rookie side of things, Patrick Peterson is the second most likely to take Rookie Defensive Player of the Year with 6/1 odds of winning it. Only Denver Broncos first round pick Von Miller has better odds at 11/2.
So why, exactly, would a player like Fitz end up behind an unproven QB? That would be because he is the the QB.
Quarterbacks are always the favorites to win MVP. Receivers have to rely on a quarterback to get the ball. As Cardinals fans, we saw the years of Fitz and Anquan Boldin, but no quarterback, dominate but not win games.
Now, not being a betting man, I don't know if these are odds that would be worth placing a wager on. However, money on either Fitz or Kolb would definitely pay out well.
Anyone going in?