For the sake of today’s Super Bowl Question of the Day here at Bleeding Green Nation, let’s just assume the Philadelphia Eagles are going to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
In that timeline, who is the Eagles’ second-ever Super Bowl MVP?
Here’s a look at the Eagles players with the shortest odds (via FanDuel):
Saquon Barkley +250
Jalen Hurts +370
A.J. Brown +3500
DeVonta Smith +6500
Jalen Carter +10000
Dallas Goedert +12000
Zack Baun +12000
Nolan Smith +17000
Cooper DeJean +20000
Quinyon Mitchell +20000
And now let’s pose today’s question:
How would you rank the Eagles’ top 5 most likely Super Bowl MVP candidates?
Are you just going to go chalk with those top five?
It’s tempting to put Hurts ahead of Barkley since 1) Hurts looked Super Bowl MVP-worthy in his last Super Bowl and 2) it’s often a quarterback award.
Then again, Barkley has a lot of narrative juice going for him. I’ve been saying he’s the main character of the 2024 NFL season.
After the top two in some order, things start to open up. I don’t think it’s impossible that a wide receiver could win the award if it’s another low volume passing game performance and one of those two receivers totally dominates the Eagles’ overall receiving production.
But I think the odds are sleeping on the Eagles’ defenders a bit. I actually like Baun as a value bet here. Don’t get me wrong, Carter has the ability to wreck a game. But he can also do that without the stat sheet really even reflecting as much. Baun, meanwhile, can absolutely fill up a box score and he has the whole return to New Orleans narrative going for him. Baun also finished ahead of Carter in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Here’s how I’d rank my top five most likely candidates:
1) Saquon Barkley2) Jalen Hurts3) Zack Baun4) Jalen Carter5) A.J. Brown
What say you?
Scroll down and let us know in the comments!
