There’s no tried and true way to win a wager on the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year each season, but one smart bet of late has simply been picking an Ohio State player. Last year, former Buckeyes defensive end Nick Bosa won the award for the San Francisco 49ers as the No. 2 overall pick.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Bosa was the third Buckeye to win it in the past four seasons, joining New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore (No. 11 overall pick in 2017) and Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa (No. 3 overall pick in 2016), Nick’s brother.
The first defensive player off the board in the 2020 NFL Draft was a player ranked higher by scouts than any of the three listed above: Buckeyes defensive end Chase Young was the No. 2 overall pick by the Washington Redskins and is the +200 DROY favorite. He was favored before the draft too.
One player who slipped a bit further in the draft than many scouts expected was Clemson linebacker/safety Isaiah Simmons, who is +450 to win DROY. He was picked No. 8 by the Arizona Cardinals. Simmons can do it all, but if there’s a knock on him it’s that some coaches think he’s a linebacker and others a safety. Might take a creative defensive mind to use him ideally. The Cardinals, who for now are calling Simmons a linebacker, have had one DROY in their history: Defensive end Simeon Rice in 1996.
Easily the biggest riser on these odds is LSU linebacker Patrick Queen, who may have landed in the ideal spot for him at No. 28 overall to the Baltimore Ravens. That already was an excellent defense but had a hole at middle linebacker, and Queen was the top one in this class. He’s a +900 third-favorite on this prop. Current QB Lamar Jackson has compared Queen to former Ravens Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis, who actually didn’t win DROY. That’s about the only thing he didn’t win in his brilliant career.
Could the 49ers have back-to-back DROY winners? They took South Carolina defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw at No. 14 overall and he’s +2200 on this prop. The first defensive back taken in the 2020 draft was Ohio State’s Jeff Okudah at No. 3 overall to the Detroit Lions, and he’s +1200. Lattimore aside, defensive backs rarely win DROY these days.
