Aaron Rodgers is Vegas’ favorite to win NFL MVP in 2016

Twice in the past five years, Aaron Rodgers has been the NFL’s Most Valuable Player. Rodgers earned those honors following the Green Bay Packers’ 15-1 season in 2011, when he threw for over 4,600 yards with 45 touchdowns and six picks, and again in 2014 when he went 4,381/38/5.

In 2015, Rodgers had a down year by his standards. He threw for fewer than 4,000 yards with 31 scores and 8 picks, but his completion percentage (60.7%) and yards-per-attempt (6.7) were both career-lows.

Concerned for Rodgers’ 2016? The Las Vegas sportsbooks aren’t. In the odds that were released today by online sportsbook Bovada, Rodgers was given the shortest odds to win the MVP award for the upcoming season at 4:1. Rodgers beat out a host of top quarterbacks for the status as the favorite, with the closest competitors being Ben Roethlisberger (7:1), reigning MVP Cam Newton (15:2), Russell Wilson (8:1), and Tom Brady (9:1 despite being suspended for the first four games of the season).

There is one other individual Packers player who has odds assigned to him - that would be wide receiver Jordy Nelson, who is being given 250:1 odds. Among the other notable items is that the first non-quarterback to appear on the list is Texans defensive end J.J. Watt at 25:1, with Vikings running back Adrian Peterson coming up behind him at 33:1.

If Rodgers were to make good on these predictions, that would give him three MVP awards. That would tie him for second-place all-time with three other players who have won three MVPs - Brett Favre, who won three straight from 1995-97, Johnny Unitas, and Jim Brown. Peyton Manning owns the record with five such honors.