After leading the New Orleans Saints to three victories in their past five games, quarterback Tyler Shough is starting to garner some national attention.
The most tangible way of measuring that? His NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year odds, which improved by leaps and bounds after he passed for 272 yards Sunday in a 20-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers at the Superdome.
Shough was listed with 250-to-1 odds before the game, an extreme long-shot number that implied a 0.4% chance he would win the award.
But afterward, his odds have improved more than tenfold. They’re as low as 18-to-1 at FanDuel Sportsbook, 22-to-1 at Caesars Sportsbook and 25-to-1 at DraftKings and BetMGM.
Shough is still nowhere near the favorite — that status belongs to New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson — and the new odds still imply only between a 4% and 5% chance of him winning the award when it’s announced during Super Bowl week in Northern California.
Still, it’s certainly notable movement for the second-round draft pick who didn’t see meaningful action until the second half of a Week 8 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 26 and didn’t start a game until the following week against the Los Angeles Rams.
Since then, Shough has helped the Saints sweep the Panthers, winning Nov. 9 on the road, and defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road Dec. 7. He has completed 66.7% of his passes for 1,484 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions and also has run for 138 yards and two TDs.
Behind Henderson (+190 at FanDuel), the other top contenders are Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (+270), Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (+310), New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (+430) and Indianapolis Colts tight end Tyler Warren (+2200).
The last Saints players to win Rookie of the Year were Alvin Kamara and Marshon Lattimore, who swept the offensive and defensive awards in 2017. Other Saints players awarded the honor were running backs George Rogers in 1981 and Reuben Mayes in 1986.