NFL MVP odds: Is Jonathan Taylor the dark horse candidate to bank on after Week 15?

Running backs just don’t get the type of respect they deserve in the NFL MVP race. It’s always been a QB dominated award. Since the year 2000, only four times has a non-QB won the award. At least those four winners were elite Hall of Fame backs — Marshall Faulk, Shaun Alexander, LaDanian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson. Indianapolis Colts RB Jonathan Taylor could join that company and should be getting more hype to win NFL MVP after Week 15.

Let’s take a look at his MVP odds heading toward Week 16. Odds are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

Jonathan Taylor NFL MVP odds: +1000

The Colts pulled off a 27-17 win over the New England Patriots on Saturday night and it was Taylor who carried them again. He had 170 yards and a TD on 29 carries. QB Carson Wentz only threw the ball 12 times. Most of the offense leaned on Taylor, who has been huge for the Colts after an 0-3 start. Since then, Indy is 8-3 and will have a chance to not only compete for a wild card spot, but win the AFC South division after a Titans loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

With three games left to play, Taylor sits at 1,518 rushing yards and 17 TDs. At this point, it’s not looking like Taylor is shattering any records. He has an outside shot to hit the 2,000 rushing mark, especially with one of those three games against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Taylor probably won’t sniff the top 3 in rushing TDs in a season; he’d need to score at least 10 times in the last three games to tie for second all-time. So that sort of hurts Taylor’s chances of winning MVP. LT, Alexander and AP all had historic seasons to win MVP. Taylor would be an outlier, though not lacking in a strong case.

The Colts RB is my favorite dark horse to win MVP at this point. He’s got a great case that is going overlooked. Sprinkling a little bit on Taylor isn’t a bad idea, but we may need to see what happens Week 16 vs. the Arizona Cardinals.

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