Morning Coffee: Barkley among top choices for NFL MVP at FanDuel
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We all wondered about Saquon Barkley’s potential in an elite NFL offence.
In 11 games with the Philadelphia Eagles, the star running back has shattered expectations.
He’s certainly done more with his new team than the management group from his former team could have imagined he would.
The New York Giants registered 245 total yards and one touchdown in a 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. A few hours later, Barkley went off for 302 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns as the Philadelphia Eagles cruised to a 37-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.
As if watching their team fall to 0-6 at home for the first time in more than four decades wasn’t bad enough, Giants fans had to then watch their former franchise running back deliver another remarkable performance for their NFC East rival in another prime-time win.
Barkley finished with 57 more yards and one more touchdown than the entire Giants team on Sunday. He became just the 12th player in NFL history to register at least 300 scrimmage yards in one game.
Barkley was already the favourite to win NFL Offensive Player of the Year at FanDuel entering Week 12.
After delivering the best performance of his NFL career on Sunday, FanDuel has ranked Barkley among the top three choices to win NFL regular season MVP.
This is the Morning Coffee for Monday Nov. 25, 2024.
Barkley among top choices for NFL MVP at FanDuel
Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and current frontrunner Josh Allen have all had a turn as the betting favourite to win NFL regular season MVP at FanDuel.
For the first time this year, a skill-position player has entered the MVP conversation. He isn’t out of place, either.
Barkley’s remarkable performance in Sunday night’s win in Los Angeles was his third game this season with at least 195 yards from scrimmage. The rest of the NFL has combined for three such games.
Barkley’s 1,649 scrimmage yards this season are the second most by any player ever through his first 11 games with a team in NFL history. He’s on pace for an NFL-record 2,151 rushing yards this season.
Meanwhile, Barkley’s 500 scrimmage yards over his past two games are the most in a two-game span since 1977.
He joined Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk as the third player in NFL history with at least 1,500 scrimmage yards and 10 touchdowns in his first seasons with multiple teams.
Based on what we’ve seen from the Giants, it’s clear they could use a player with Barkley’s skill set in New York.
Instead, Barkley has the Eagles in contention for the NFC’s No. 1 seed, with the type of numbers that justify his elevation into the NFL MVP conversation.
How big of an impact did last night’s game have on his outlook?
Barkley was +6500 to win NFL MVP on Sunday morning. By the time the night was over, he was +650 to win that award.
Only Allen (+135) and Jackson (+300) have shorter odds to win MVP at FanDuel this morning.
There’s no doubt that Barkley has elevated the Philly offence and put up the type of numbers that have forced the traders at FanDuel to take notice.
While I don’t think he will ultimately win MVP – I’m on Allen to win it at +650 – Barkley certainly deserves to be in the broader conversation for that award.
I can only imagine how difficult that is for the hardcore Giants fans to come to terms with this morning.
A FanDuel Best Bet for Monday Night Football
Last night, Barkley stole the spotlight as the favourite to win NFL Offensive Player of the Year and a top-three choice to win NFL regular season MVP at FanDuel.
Tonight, all eyes will be on the second choice in both the MVP and Offensive Player of the Year markets.
Jackson is 19-5 straight up and 16-8 against the spread in his career in NFL prime-time games.
After another ugly loss to a division rival in Week 11, Jackson should be motivated to avoid suffering back-to-back losses for just the second time this season.
Meanwhile, Henry is the second choice to win the OPOY after he scored at least one touchdown in each of his first 11 games for the Baltimore Ravens.
Henry entered Week 12 as the league leader in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.
It would take a monster performance for Henry to catch Barkley for the rushing yards lead after what the Eagles star running back did last night, but expectations are high for Henry again with his rushing yards prop at 84.5.
Meanwhile, there will be a lot of talk about the coaches for tonight’s game, as John Harbaugh’s Ravens are currently a 2.5-point favourite at Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers.
That’s down from the opener of Baltimore -3.5.
It will be cool to see the two brothers – both among the most respected coaches in football – go head-to-head in a battle between two of the top six choices to win the AFC.
For my FanDuel Best Bet, I’m going to lock in a three-leg builder Same Game Parlay at +105 odds.
I’ll take Justin Herbert 225+ passing yards, Quentin Johnston 25+ receiving yards, and Lamar Jackson 25+ rushing yards.
Herbert has thrown for at least 225 passing yards in five of his past six games. Now he faces a legitimate pass funnel defence that has allowed a league-worst 304.5 passing yards per game to opposing quarterbacks this season.
Additionally, the Ravens have allowed an average of 189.5 receiving yards per game to opposing wide receivers – the second-worst mark in the entire NFL.
Johnston has registered at least 24 receiving yards in three straight games, including 48 yards on just two catches in last week’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Initially, I leaned Ladd McConkey 4+ receptions for this leg, but McConkey is officially questionable with a shoulder injury after he was limited in practice this week.
If McConkey is limited or ruled out, Johnston will be even more likely to hit those marks against a struggling Baltimore pass defence.
Meanwhile, Jackson has gone under his rushing attempts prop in five straight games.
Still, he’s run for at least 33 yards in four of those five games. He’s also cleared 25 or more rushing yards in 10 of 11 games this season. In fact, he’s cleared 40 or more rushing yards in 10 of 11 games.
The Chargers defence has been excellent this season, but they do rank in the bottom eight in the NFL with an average of 26.2 quarterback rushing yards allowed per game this season.
I’ll lock in the +105 builder SGP with Herbert 225+ passing yards, Johnston 25+ receiving yards, and Jackson 25+ rushing yards as a FanDuel Best Bet for Monday Night Football.
Have a great day, everyone!