After six weeks of football, the MVP odds have changed drastically, specifically for Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who has dropped from preseason odds of around +750 to his odds now of +2800, according to ESPN.
Here’s what Courtney Cronin of ESPN had to say about Burrow’s 2023 season so far:
A lingering right calf injury hindered Burrow’s effectiveness through six weeks, which is why Cincinnati could not score a touchdown in two of its losses and is averaging under 17 points per game. Burrow hasn’t been able to connect on deep balls to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins the way we’ve grown accustomed to and has seen his yards per attempt drop from 7.4 (a top-10 ranking last season) to 5.3 (the worst mark among QBs who have started at least two games this season) in 2023.
After a tough start to the season, Burrow’s chances have gotten much smaller, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t still be taking home the NFL MVP trophy when the season comes to an end.
With Burrow seemingly very close to being fully healthy, and now with a week off to recover even more, he could return to the type of dominant play that made him one of the favorites to win the award before the season.
He is a long shot, but if he’s able to get through the extremely tough schedule the Bengals are facing the rest of the season and come out on the other side with great stats and another AFC North winning record, it’s not out of the question.
It’s a very long season, and Cincinnati still has 11 games left to play, so as the Bengals offense has shown in the past, anything can happen in that time.
