Patrick Mahomes is looking to join exclusive company as he prepares for Super Bowl 55 as the -120 chalk on the Super Bowl MVP odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Mahomes claimed Super Bowl MVP honours in the wake of Kansas City's 31-20 win over San Francisco in last year's big game, positioning him to become just the third player in NFL history to win the award in consecutive years. In addition to ranking among the league leaders in passing yards and touchdown passes during the regular season, the 25-year-old connected on three scoring passes in last weekend's 38-24 win over Buffalo. That clinched a berth for Kansas City in next weekend's game at Tampa Bay's Raymond James Stadium.
While four teams have tallied back-to-back Super Bowl wins over the past three decades, NFL fans have to go all the way back to 1980 to find the last player to successfully repeat as Super Bowl MVP. That was the year that Terry Bradshaw claimed the honour for a second straight year while leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to a successful defence of their title at Super Bowl 14. Green Bay Packers legend Bart Starr was also named MVP of the big game in consecutive years, winning the award in the first two editions of the Super Bowl.
Not surprisingly, Mahomes' biggest challenger is Tom Brady, who sits second at +200 on those Super Bowl props. The 43-year-old is set to make an astonishing 10th career Super Bowl appearance after leading Tampa Bay to seven straight wins. Brady has been named Super Bowl MVP on four previous occasions, most recently in the New England Patriots' epic comeback victory over Atlanta in Super Bowl 51. But the future Hall-of-Famer faces an uphill battle against the Chiefs, who sit as 3-point favourites at online sports betting sites.
Brady also has work to do to close the gap on Mahomes in this year's Super Bowl player props. While Mahomes sports short -150 odds to connect on OVER 2.5 touchdown passes, Brady is listed as a +130 underdog to do the same. Mahomes is also a -170 wager to throw no interceptions, while Brady is listed as a short -180 wager to be picked off at least once.
Quarterbacks have been named Super Bowl MVP 10 times in the past 14 years. However, plenty of betting value exists further down the Super Bowl 55 MVP odds. Kansas City's Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill trail the betting favourites at +1000 on those NFL odds, while Tampa Bay's Leonard Fournette and Mike Evans sit at +2500 and +2800 odds, respectively.
