NFL Offensive Player of the Year Candidates Chasing History

With the NFL MVP award becoming a default “best quarterback of the year” award, the Offensive Player of the Year has unofficially evolved into the “best non-quarterback of the year” award.

Luckily, in 2024, we have a class of non-quarterbacks that are having career years, and seasons that are chasing some all-time records.

Saquon Barkley (-600)

Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is a big favorite to win the award, and the numbers make it obvious why. Through 13 games, Barkley has rushed for 1,623 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he’s added another 267 yards and two touchdowns as a receiver.

With 1,890 total yards and four games remaining, Barkley is on pace to finish the season with 2,471 yards from scrimmage, which would be second all-time behind Chris Johnson’s 2009 season (2,509 yards), and ahead of what Marshall Faulk did in 1999. 

In rush yards alone, Barkley is on pace for 2,122 yards, which would be 17 yards better than the single-season record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984. 

The Eagles play a good Pittsburgh Steelers defense this week, which ranks fourth in rushing yards allowed per game. But Barkley and the Eagles finish at the Washington Commanders (27th), home against the Dallas Cowboys (30th), and home against the New York Giants (29th).

Ja’Marr Chase (+750)

The Cowboys defense has been much better since the return of Micah Parsons, and they have All-Pro cornerbacks in DaRon Brand and Trevon Diggs. But even with that talent, and every person in AT&T Stadium on Monday night knowing that the Cincinnati Bengals offense runs through Ja’Marr Chase, it doesn’t matter. Chase always gets his touches.

This season, those touches have included 93 catches (seven short of a career high) for 1,319 yards (139 yards short of a career-high) and 15 touchdowns (a new career high). He has four games this season with more than100 yards, and three games of at least 177 yards – which he had on Monday.

He leads the NFL in receptions, yards, and receiving touchdowns, and the last player to do that – Cooper Kupp in 2021 – was awarded Offensive Player of the Year. If Chase does win the Triple Crown of receiving, he would be just the fifth player to do so since the merger, joining Kupp, Steve Smith (2005), Sterling Sharpe (1992), and Jerry Rice (1990).

Derrick Henry (+850)

Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry has 1,407 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground. He also has two receiving touchdowns this season and 125 yards catching passes out of the backfield.

Six times in 2024, he has gone over 100 yards in a game, and 44 times he has eclipsed the century mark in his career. His current pace has him finishing the season with 1,839 rushing yards, which would be 19th all-time. Henry already has the fifth-most rushing yards in a season from his 2,027-yard span in 2020.

If Henry goes over 1,800 rushing yards, he would be just the fourth running back in NFL history to do it multiple times in a career. Dickerson did it three times, and Barry Sanders and O.J. Simpson each did it twice.

In rushing yards allowed per game, the Ravens’ final four opponents of the season rank 29th (Giants), fourth (Steelers), 10th (Houston Texans), and 22nd (Cleveland Browns).

Henry won Offensive Player of the Year following the 2020 season.