After a solid rookie campaign, Jacksonville Jaguars pass-rusher Josh Allen will head into the weekend of the NFL’s annual Honors awards with pretty good odds to be crowned Defensive Rookie of the Year. In fact, according to Sports Betting Dime, only one player has better odds and that’s Nick Bosa with odds of 1/50.
As for Allen, he currently shares the second-best odds with Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Devin Bush as both currently have odds of 10/1. That said, it appears both rookies will need an upset at Saturday’s award show, which will start at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
Bosa has been the guy leading the charge for the award in the eyes of oddsmakers for quite some time. He started in all but two games in the regular season and managed to accumulate 47 total tackles, nine sacks, a forced fumble, and a pick. His contributions to the San Francisco 49ers’ defense is a huge reason they had regular season success and will be playing in Super Bowl LIV Sunday.
As for Allen, he came just short of Bosa in tackles with 44 but beat him out in the sacks category this regular season with 10.5. He also registered one more forced fumble than Bosa. As a result, he was voted into the Pro Bowl and became the Jags’ first rookie to achieve the feat.
Most tend to think Bosa should be able to hold off Allen and Bush Saturday, however, if there is a case to be made for Allen it’s the fact that he only started in four games to Bosa’s total of 16 and still managed to register nearly the same amount of tackles and more sacks.
Regardless as to what happens in terms of the award, fans can be happy about what the future holds for Allen. In 2020 he should be even more polished, and if he starts, he could be a 14-plus sack type of player.