Jalen Ramsey's Defensive Player of the Year odds are on the rise

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

Cameron DaSilva

The Los Angeles Rams very clearly have one legitimate contender for Defensive Player of the Year in Aaron Donald. Having won the award twice before, Donald is once again among the favorites to take home the hardware again.

At BetMGM, Donald has the second-best odds at +275, behind only T.J. Watt. The fact that he’s not the favorite is a discussion for another time, but if you look only a little bit further down the list of contenders, you’ll see Jalen Ramsey’s name.

After shutting down DK Metcalf in Sunday’s win over the Seahawks, Ramsey’s Defensive Player of the Year odds are on the rise. At +4000, he has the eighth-best odds of any player in the league, slightly behind Fred Warner and Minkah Fitzpatrick (+3500).

Back in June, we broke down how Ramsey could win the award, and at that time, he was tied for 22nd at +5000. He’s not necessarily a favorite to be named Defensive Player of the Year, but the fact that he’s jumped from 22nd to eighth is certainly noteworthy.

Donald’s odds have also improved significantly, going from +750 to +275 – even though he’s no longer the favorite to win the award. Ramsey has an outside shot to be honored at the end of the season, but he’ll first have to overtake his teammate, which is a tall task.


What could help Ramsey’s case in a big way is picking off a few more passes. That’s tough to do when you’re rarely targeted in coverage, but Ramsey only has one interception and three passes defensed this year. Stephon Gilmore won Defensive Player of the Year last season with a league-high six interceptions and 20 passes defensed, allowing zero touchdowns.

Ramsey will face plenty of tests in the final seven weeks, too. He’ll probably have coverage assignments against Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown, as well as two games against DeAndre Hopkins. If he covers them the way he did DK Metcalf, his odds will continue to improve.

It’ll take a dominant effort from here on out in order for Ramsey to win the award, but it’s still possible.