Coach Of The Year Offers Great Value

The NFL has a ton of awards you can bet on. Some are the more sexy awards like MVP or Offensive Rookie of the Year. You can tie up your money in many futures, but if you hit, the reward can be very substantial. If you miss, you usually can tell during the season and get a chance to hedge your bet a bit. I'm here to tell you that the Coach of the Year award is one of those that you should bet on and can get a very nice value. Let's take a look at who is the best option for betting on to win the award.

I have two or three real contenders in my opinion. Dan Campbell is a guy that I thought would be the winner or at least have a legitimate shot at winning last season. Campbell, in his second year with the team, took them into a playoff race and improved from a 3-13 record his first season to a 9-8 record in his second year. The Lions once again have expectations. This is something that the franchise hasn't really experienced since Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson were there. In fairness to the franchise, they made the playoffs in 2016, so maybe 2017 is one that carried the same level of expectations. In any case, the team really seems to like playing for Campbell. The division no longer has Aaron Rodgers, the Bears are still a year or two away from being true competitors, and the Vikings should be the team to beat in the division. If Campbell gets them to win the division, he without a doubt wins this award. If they make the playoffs, he probably wins. There were a lot of people clamoring for him to win the award last year. He wasn't one of the finalists for the award last year, but if the Lions can improve then this is a clear winner. At +850 you're getting a good return. If you want to wait a few weeks and see how the Lions start, feel free, but know if they start well, then the value decreases. If they start poorly, he probably won't win the award at all.

ENGLEWOOD, COLORADO - FEBRUARY 06: New Denver Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton fields questions from the media during a press conference at UCHealth Training Center on February 06, 2023 in Englewood, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Looking for someone that already won? Sean Payton is the second favorite and there is a legitimate reason for that. The Broncos were a total embarrassment last season. They stumbled their way to a 5-12 record and they were 4-4 at home, but 1-8 on the road. Their offense looked terrible, their defense wasn't awful but was often put in a spot where they couldn't make any mistakes. Now, Payton has a pedigree of being a top-tier coach and he is putting that on the line with this team. I still think their defense can be one of the better in the division, but it is also going to be on Russell Willson to make the true turnaround for the team. I think Payton could help bring that out of him, but let's put it this way, the Broncos almost certainly need to make the playoffs for Payton to repeat again. Are the Broncos one of the top seven teams in the AFC, I kind of doubt it. They won't win the division. I could see them overtaking the Chargers though. I'm not personally betting it, but I do think the Broncos should improve and I think Payton should be one of the main reasons.

I am seeing a few guys that I probably wouldn't bet on. I don't think Matt Eberflus, the head coach of the Bears is worth putting money on. The Bears should be better, but I don't think they will step up enough to make a big impact and substantial increase. I don't think that Arthur Smith is going to get many votes for the Falcons either. It is possible because that division is arguably the most wide-open in the entire NFL. Doug Pederson is probably going to get the Jaguars to win the division, but they likely need to get 11 or 12 wins in order to have him get real votes for the award.

Some other coaches that are worth looking at are Mike McDaniel of the Dolphins at +1800. McDaniel was leading the Dolphins to a solid season last year before the offense was hurt by the loss of Tua Tagovailioa. I think if he can get the defense to improve and they win the division McDaniel gets serious consideration. I'd also maybe consider Sean McVay. Everyone knows of his pedigree and he has won a Super Bowl. Last year was a terrible season for the Rams. So bad that there was talk that McVay would leave the team or retire. If they rebound and get back to being one of the top teams in the NFL, I think McVay also would get some consideration.

Personally, for me, I'll take Dan Campbell to win the award as I do think everything is aligning to have him win. I'm not going to take anyone else, but I think that even after three or four weeks I should know if this ticket has any real value or if I can start considering some of the other options I touched on in this article.

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