Tua Tagovailoa new NFL MVP favorite at BetMGM, co-favorite at other books
Mahomes has some competition for NFL MVP through the early portion of the season.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had stretches last season of playing like an MVP before he was injured. In two games so far this season, he’s shown enough to impress oddsmakers.
On Monday morning, several sportsbooks installed Tagovailoa as the co-favorite with Patrick Mahomes (last season’s MVP) at around +500 odds to win MVP. BetMGM has Tua as the favorite (+550) over Mahomes.
Tua has led the Dolphins to a 2-0 record, including 2-0 against the spread, and he leads the NFL in passing yards (715) and yards per attempt (9.5). He’s also third in ESPN’s QBR metric with a 79.0 rating. Even more impressive for Tua and the Dolphins is that both games were road victories.
“Mahomes and Tua are both at +600 currently,” Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in New Jersey said via text. “From the way people are betting him this morning, I should make Micah Parsons (66-1) the favorite.”
Before Sunday’s games, only 2.2% of the bets and 2.3% of the total dollars wagered at BetMGM sportsbooks were on Tagovailoa to win MVP.
It’s far too early to doubt Mahomes’ candidacy, but the Chiefs’ offense has been stagnant, scoring only 37 points in two games. Mahomes is ninth in QBR with a 66.7 rating.
The Dolphins play six of their next eight games at home, including games against the Panthers, Giants and Raiders, so Tagovailoa could have a chance to boost his stats more.
The Dolphins play the Chiefs in Miami in Week 9, a game that will likely go a long ways towards Tagovailoa’s MVP campaign.