NFL Rookie of the Year award 2021 Contenders & Odds

Updated: November 28, 2023

Every season, NFL fans across the world look at the results of the draft and wonder who the next Rookie of the Year will be. Almost everybody is hoping that the award will go to a player that their favorite team has drafted. This year is no different, and in this article, we will be going over the current favorites to win the NFL Rookie of the Year award.

NFL Rookie of the Year Mon, May 31, 2021 EST

Let’s take a look at the offensive leaders first.

Trevor Lawrence

Trevor Lawrence currently has the best odds to walk away with the Rookie of the Year award.

This is a man that knows how to win games consistently regardless of his circumstances and they were able to pair him up with a great mind in head coach Urban Meyer.

Even if he struggles to get open wide receivers to hit, they have a two headed monster at running back to help him. They already have the young stud James Robinson but added Lawrence’s college teammate Travis Etienne to form a formidable duo and balance out their offense overall.

Once again, this award almost always goes to a quarterback and Lawrence has been surrounded by a ton of hype for the past few years now.

Trey Lance

Trey Lance is another quarterback who could be in line for this award.

Lance is in a far more favorable position than Lawrence is and that could end up giving him the edge in this race.

The only reason they had such a high draft pick last year is because of the number of injuries they had to suffer through that always made them the underdogs.

Now that everybody is starting to come back healthy once more, the 49ers should be a force in the NFC again.

Lance will have a plethora of running backs and interesting wide receivers to throw the football too, not to mention the fact that he has George Kittle as his tight end. Their offense line is also very solid and should keep him from panicking and stressing out in the pocket on every drop back.

Otherwise, he may not get enough playing time in order to win this award.

This is precisely the situation involving Justin Fields.

Fields was supposed to be one of the top quarterbacks taken in this draft class but somehow slipped past the top ten selections.

They probably never could have imagined grabbing a top quarterback in this class. Dalton is likely to start at least the first few games and may even ride the whole season out.

However, if the team is struggling the fans will grow impatient and demand Fields to get his shot as the starter.

Once he is finally able too, he will have a relatively decent offensive line and a great running back to ease some pressure off his back. Then he has a reliable number one receiver in Allen Robinson and a great deep threat with Darnell Mooney.

Moving away from the quarterbacks for a little bit, Ja’Marr Chase could be in line to grab this award.

The standout LSU wide receiver was drafted to the Cincinnati Bengals in order to reunite with his former teammate Joe Burrow.

The two of them won a national championship together and could instill fear in opposing defenses all year long. It isn’t all that often that a wide receiver wins the Rookie of the Year trophy, but we saw Justin Jefferson come very close last year and he was happened to be on that same LSU team a few years ago.

If Chase ends up being the player everyone expects, then the Bengals offense could look completely different next year. He would be their standout number one target and already has enough chemistry with Burrow to light up the stat sheet.

Let’s go over one more offensive player before switching over to the defensive players that can win the Rookie of the Year award.

Kyle Pitts

Kyle Pitts definitely deserves to be in this conversation.

Both he and Mac Jones have the exact same odds for this upcoming season, but Pitts is going to be a guaranteed starter for the majority of the season while Jones will fight it out with Cam Newton over in New England.

Pitts was drafted to a perfect situation.

He will go to an Atlanta Falcons team that already has Matt Ryan, Todd Gurley, Calvin Ridley and Julio Jones on offense.

With all of those weapons, opposing defenses won’t be able to zero in on Pitts, leaving him with a lot of one-on-one situation down the field. Couple that with their atrocious defense and it will cause them to have to put up a lot more points offensively.

Micah Parsons leads the odds for all defenders in this rookie class.

He was one of the first defenders taken off the board in this draft and is set up perfectly to start immediately. Parsons was drafted to the Dallas Cowboys and will attempt to improve what was a horrific defense overall last year.

Their linebackers corps wasn’t terrible with Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith, but Jerry Jones and company clearly felt that upgrades were needed.

Parsons is great in coverage and rarely misses tackles, something this defense badly needs.

Those stats would be able to throw him pretty high up on the Rookie of the Year charts, though there are a few other players at his position that could definitely make it difficult for him.

Jamin Davis is one of those guys.

He was selected shortly after Parsons in the first round by the Washington Football Team.

Davis is in one of those dream situations and that could result in a monster season. Everybody knew how talented and special this Washington defense was last year, and with a full offseason and a few new players it could be even better.

Davis will be able to step in and contribute in both run and pass coverage straight away.

Washington also has a fantastic defensive line that will be able to gobble up blocks and create large gaps in the offensive line for Davis to sprint through. It is going to lead to a ton of easy tackle opportunities and tipped balls that he could come down with as an interception.

Obviously, he is going to have to prove he can start right away and try to avoid any injuries.

Not to mention the fact that he will benefit if Washington is able to have a winning season and make the postseason, because team success is pretty crucial to some of these awards.

Next up we have two cornerbacks actually.

Jaycee Horn

Let’s start off with Jaycee Horn, who was drafted in the first round to the Carolina Panthers. He happens to be the son of Joe Horn, the former star wide reicever for the New Orleans Saints, so you could imagine that he knows how to stay prepared in this league already.

Horn will be dropped straight into a young and steadily improving Carolina defense and will most likely take over that number one cornerback spot pretty quickly.

He moves his feet well and is great and reading his opponents routes mid play.

Patrick Surtain II

Then we have Patrick Surtain II out of Alabama.

He was taken just a few spots after by the Denver Broncos and will also slot in as their immediate number one corner, unless the offseason changes a few things. Surtain was taught a ton of discipline during his years at one of the best football colleges in the world, and that is bound to help him make a fast impact on his new team.

Denver struggles defensively due to a ton of injuries and below average play from a number of guys. Surtain should be able to shore up one side of the field with his length and quickness out in space.

He will also take a lot of pressure off of the shoulders of Justin Simmons, who was tasked with defending basically the entire field as the superstar safety of this defensive unit.

Kwity Paye

Finally, we have Kwity Paye.

Kwity Paye is a very interesting talent on this side of the field and is pretty raw as a football player.

Although it wasn’t enough for him to slip far in the draft, being nabbed by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round. The Colts were in dire need of a pass rusher after Justin Houston and Denico Autry both left in free agency, leaving a lot of sacks on the table for somebody else to pick up.

Paye should fit in perfectly into this defensive line and be able to do just that for this defense. He has shown his high motor and quick burst off the edge and his potential is off the charts.

Once again though, it is rare for a defensive player to win this award but Paye might be in the perfect situation to generate big numbers for his case.

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