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NFL Futures: Top Rookie of the Year Odds & Picks

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The NFL Draft culminated months of workouts, pro days, and combine drills, and now the top rookies know which teams they are playing for next year. The draft had a heavy focus on offensive players early, as the 23 players that were selected in the first round smashed the record of 19 offensive players set in 1968, 2004, and 2009. However, sportsbooks have released their odds for both Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year, and we make our top selection for each.

Read on for our best bets for the 2024-25 NFL Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year Award winners. We offer our top two NFL Rookie of the Year Picks.

NFL Rookie of the Year Picks

Odds for 2025 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year

(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)

PLAYER ODDS
Caleb Williams +200
Marvin Harrison Jr. +600
Jayden Daniels +650
J.J. McCarthy +800
Malik Nabers +1200
Drake Maye +1600
Xavier Worthy +1600
Bo Nix +1600
Rome Odunze +2200

Now let’s dive into our top NFL Rookie of the Year Pick on offense.

Marvin Harrison Jr. (+600)

While quarterbacks have won the last 12 NFL MVP awards, that has not been the case when it comes to Rookie of the Year, as just three of the last seven winners (C.J. Stroud in 2023, Justin Herbert in 2020, Kyler Murray in 2019) have been quarterbacks. There is little argument as to why Caleb Williams deserves short +200 odds, as compared to the other three quarterbacks in the top six on the odds list, Williams is the only one to be the guaranteed starter from Week 1. He is also the first ever top-5 quarterback to be thrust into a lineup in his rookie year with two 1,200 yard wide receivers. However, the +200 odds are a little short for our liking, which has us finding much better value with a wide receiver that should dominate targets from a proven quarterback from the season’s onset.

Marvin Harrison Jr. is the Fantasy Life’s highest-ranked prospect ever in its Rookie Super Model. The knock on Harrison is if he will be able to shine in a wide receiver room that is not loaded with other standout wideouts like Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but he lands in a great spot in Arizona with Kyler Murray throwing to him, and still has a high floor even if offensive guru Kliff Kingsbury has moved on to become the offensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders.

Harrison’s only real competition to lead the team in targets comes from Trey McBride, but the Biletnikoff Award winner possesses all the necessary traits (speed, size, physicality, route running) to make the biggest impact of all skill position players in his rookie year.

 

Odds for 2025 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year

(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)

PLAYER ODDS
Dallas Turner +400
Laiatu Latu +700
Quinyon Mitchell +1000
Jared Verse +1100
Chop Robinson +1300
Terrion Arnold +1300
Byron Murphy II +1300
Cooper DeJean +2000
Nate Wiggins +2200

Now let’s dive into our top NFL Rookie of the Year Pick on defense.

Chop Robinson (+1300)

While the NFL has become a pass-heavy league with a premium put on talented players in the secondary, New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner (2002) is the only player from the secondary that has won the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in the last six years. The biggest reason is likely because it is more difficult to put up stats defending in pass coverage, while sacks and tackles for loss are the more eye-popping statistics, which is why the other five of the past six winners have been defensive linemen, edge rushers, or linebackers. 

No defensive players were taken within the first 14 picks of the draft, and while that is not necessarily a knock on any of those players’ talents, it also suggests we should be focusing a little further down the odds boards to find our Defensive Rookie of the Year. Our best value lies with Chop Robinson out of Penn State, who ran the second-fastest 40-yard dash among all edge rushers.

Robinson walks into a tremendous situation with the Miami Dolphins, whose pass rush was elite last season. Miami ranked first in pressure percentage (36%), second in sack rate (9%), and tenth in Pass Rush Win Rate, despite blitzing 21% of the time (sixth-fewest). Linemen Jaelen Phillips and Bradley Chubb proved to be injury prone last season, and the Dolphins lost Andrew Van Ginkel in free agency, but the elite caliber of linemen around Robinson should only benefit him, and allow him to get to the quarterback easier with less defensive attention being paid to him.

Check out our other 2024 NFL Consensus Odds below:

Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.

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