Super Bowl LI Betting Props: Quarterbacks Favored on MVP Award Odds

If you have watched the NFL playoffs this season or anytime recently, you understand how important the quarterback position is for teams trying to get to the Super Bowl.

This year, that was especially true, with three of the four signal-callers in the conference championship games previously winning at least one Super Bowl. The exception was Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons, the 5-2 second choice on the odds to win Super Bowl 51 MVP at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.

Ryan has led the Falcons to the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history, throwing for 392 yards and four touchdowns last week in a 44-21 rout of the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game. His only competition for the most passing yards was Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, as he threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-17 blowout of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.

Brady is pegged as the betting favorite to win Super Bowl MVP at 8-5 odds thanks to his experience and past success in the Super Bowl. Since he returned from a four-game suspension to start the season due to his role in the Deflategate scandal, the Patriots have gone 13-1, with Brady throwing 33 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

Brady is a four-time Super Bowl champion, three-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time regular-season MVP. No quarterback has won five Super Bowls.

New England did not win the Super Bowl either time Brady won the NFL MVP award, and you have to go all the way back to 1999 to find the last time the player who won that honor took home the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the same season as well. That was Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams, and Ryan is hoping to follow in his footsteps as the favorite to win the regular-season MVP award.

Of other players competing to become Super Bowl 51 MVP, Atlanta wide receiver Julio Jones is intriguing considering how important he has been to Ryan’s success. Jones is listed at 15-2 and would be the seventh at his position if he wins it. Quarterbacks have been named MVP in 27 of the first 50 Super Bowls.