Saints: Jameis Winston MVP odds skyrocket after Week 1 performance

The New Orleans Saints shocked everyone around the NFL with their 38-3 drubbing of the Packers. Most surprisingly, however, was Jameis Winston outperforming Aaron Rodgers, who won league MVP last season.

Winston beat Taysom Hill out for the starting quarterback job in New Orleans and proved right off the bat that he was the right man for the job. I mentioned how he outperformed Rodgers and while his passing numbers weren’t eye popping by any means (14-of-20 for 148 yards), the five touchdowns stand out in a big way, especially compared to Rodgers’ zero touchdowns thrown.

As a result of the dominant performance, Winston has better odds for NFL MVP exiting Week 1 than he entered with. Per Donnavan Smoot of BetSided, Winston initially had +3000 odds and WynnBET now has him at +1600 odds.

Smoot wrote:

"If Week 1 was any indication of the player Winston is going to be for the rest of the season, the Saints might not have any drop off from the Drew Brees-led teams — and could actually be better.Winston provides swagger and big play potential, which could lead him to the top of the odds list soon. It’s only one game, but Winston let the league know that he’s for real."

No one knew for sure what to expect from Winston this year, as we hadn’t seen him in a starting role since 2019 when he was with Tampa. This performance, however, showed that he’s changed and ready to lead in a big way.

Jameis Winston dazzled for Saints and his MVP odds are much better now

It was only one game but there’s a lot to be excited about with how Winston performed on Sunday. He clearly has chemistry with tight end Juwan Johnson, throwing two of his five touchdown to him, while spreading the other three out to Deonte Harris, Chris Hogan, and Alvin Kamara.

Winston has the 11th-lowest odds now, sitting behind guys like Patrick Mahomes (+550), Matthew Stafford (+750), Tom Brady (+1000), and Josh Allen (+1500). Rodgers, who Winston outperformed on Sunday, sits at +1500 odds.

Winston’s five-touchdowns gave him better odds to be named MVP but he’ll have to continuing playing at that level if he wants to stay in the race throughout the season.