Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Odds: Sam Darnold, Saquon Barkley Favorites

Rob Goldberg

A strong start to the NFL season has made New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold the favorite to win the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

OddsShark provided the latest odds to win the honor, with Darnold and New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley well ahead of the rest of the pack:

Darnold has 532 passing yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions through two games, good enough for an 88.9 quarterback rating.

Although the No. 3 overall draft pick has been far from perfect, he has shown flashes of brilliance in his first two games:

Darnold had the third-best odds to win the award in the preseason at 6-1, per OddsShark, but he is now down to nearly even odds.

Josh Allen struggled with accuracy in his first start Sunday, but he is the only other rookie quarterback currently starting. This gives him a decent shot of winning Offensive Rookie of the Year based on the yards and touchdowns he could total.

Fellow quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Josh Rosen also remain in the hunt even without playing to this point.

However, only one quarterback has won the award in the last five years, and even that was a surprise, as Cowboys signal-caller Dak Prescott beat out teammate Ezekiel Elliott in 2016.

Barkley was the favorite to begin the season and hasn't done much to hurt his case with 134 rushing yards and 102 receiving yards through two games. Although more than half of his rushing production came on one 68-yard touchdown run, he is clearly loaded with talent and should have the opportunity to produce big numbers throughout the year.

   

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