Drew Brees Opens With Dark Horse Odds to Win 2020 NFL MVP

Drew Brees is back. The legendary quarterback did not retire, and unlike many other free agent QBs this offseason, he did not elect to switch franchises. It turns out it was coming back to the New Orleans Saints or bust for Brees in free agency, thanks to his relationship with head coach Sean Payton and the rest of ownership. In the end, Brees got a two-year extension, which will likely be his final two years in the NFL.

With football futures ramping up on FanDuel Sportsbook, early MVP honors have begun to take shape as well. The leaders are last season's major contenders, starting with Patrick Mahomes (+380), the reigning 2019 MVP Lamar Jackson (+600), Russell Wilson (+600) and Deshaun Watson (+1200). Drew Brees finds himself tied with Carson Wentz for the sixth-best MVP odds on the list at +1600, just above fellow veterans Aaron Rodgers (+2000) and Tom Brady (+2600).

Brees' bulky numbers have been in decline the past couple seasons, in part because of a switch in offensive strategy to a more run-heavy style. He threw for less than 4,000 yards in both 2018 and 2019 for the first two times during his entire 14-season tenure with the Saints.

Despite this regression in total passing yards, his overall QB play has possibly gotten better. Brees has posted a career-best and second-best 1.0 and 1.1 interception percentage between the last two seasons, respectively. He's also done the exact same with completion percentage, posting a career-best and second-best 74.4 and 74.3 percent, respectively.

Performing at this level of efficiency with his QB rating north of 115.0 in both these campaigns, Brees is easily overlooked for the flashier signal-callers. Record and win total always play a factor in the MVP voting, however. Players like Matt Ryan and Derek Carr either won MVP or were considered during years where their teams made impressive runs, despite similar statistics and no MVP relevance in other seasons throughout their respective careers.

The Saints will have to be a top dog in the NFC if Brees wants any shot of winning the coveted award in his age-41 season. That means he will have to directly outshine rival Tom Brady, who enters the NFC South with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For Brees and the Saints, a second Super Bowl ring must be the ultimate goal. The all-time great QB rarely makes the narrative about himself, and next year should be business as usual in that regard too. Even so, this dark horse candidate checks all the boxes of an NFL MVP, something he has yet to win during his illustrious career.

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Michael Obermuller is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Michael also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username king_mizzard. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.