Jimmy Garoppolo listed as the favorite for Comeback Player of the Year

You know football is right around the corner when the odds for the end of season awards are starting to be released. DraftKings Sportsbook recently released the Coach of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year odds.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan wasn’t listed in the top eight for Coach of the Year candidates, but he should have been. Look at these names:

• Freddie Kitchens, Cleveland Browns +900
• Frank Reich, Indianapolis Colts +1000
• Bill Belichick, New England Patriots +1400
• Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams +1400
• Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints +1400
• Doug Pederson, Philadelphia Eagles +1400
• Adam Gase, New York Jets +2800
• Pat Shurmur, New York Giants +5000

After Pederson, the oddsmakers just started to draw names out of a hat. You cannot convince me that Gase or Shurmur deserve better odds than Shanahan, or Matt Nagy of the Bears, or 15 other coaches that I could reel off.

Let’s move on to the Comeback Player of the Year odds. Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts won the award in 2018, but before that, a quarterback hadn’t won since 2013. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is the favorite to win the award this year. He edged out Le’Veon almost Niner Bell.

• Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers +300
• Le’Veon Bell, New York Jets +400
• Devonta Freeman, Atlanta Falcons +700
• Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers +1200
• Earl Thomas, Baltimore Ravens +1200
• AJ Green, Cincinnati Bengals +1400
• Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles +1400
• Eli Manning, New York Giants +3300

Wentz needs to prove that he can stay healthy, but this comes down between him and Garoppolo. Whoever has the better season should win the award. History tells us that most of these awards go to the guys that put up big numbers on winning teams.