The Detroit Lions have emerged as a genuine contender, largely thanks to their high-octane offense. For the 2024-25 season, the Detroit Lions Super Bowl odds hinge on quarterback Jared Goff, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and others continuing to perform to a high standard.
Will any of them do well enough to win Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year? And which position dominates that award? The latter question drove BetMichigan.com to find out how often different NFL positions have won Offensive POY from AP in this century. Using Pro-Football-Reference.com, we found the average age of recipients and how often players at various positions have won the OPOY award since 2000.
Offensive Player Of The Year Trends: Positions
Position | % of Wins |
RB | 50.0% |
QB | 37.5% |
WR | 12.5% |
Go to our NFL awards page for wagering insights on this year’s OPOY and other NFL accolades.
Who Tends To Win OPOY?
It seems like quarterbacks get all the glory in football – they certainly win AP NFL Most Valuable Player often enough (16 times in the past 17 seasons including the past 11 in a row). But that does not always translate to Offensive Player of the Year.
In fact, over the past 24 seasons, AP voters have chosen a running back as the top offensive player half the time, 12 occasions in all.
The last Lions player to win it was RB Barry Sanders in 1997. At Bet MGM Michigan Sportsbook, St. Brown is tied for sixth with +1800 to win AP Offensive Player of the Year in the 2024-25 season.
Last season, San Francisco 49ers do-it-all RB Christian McCaffrey won OPOY. In his first full season with the Niners (he was traded there from the Carolina Panthers midseason in 2022), McCaffrey rushed for 1459 yards and caught 67 passes for 564 yards, scoring 21 total touchdowns.
In the two seasons before that, receivers Justin Jefferson (2022) of the Minnesota Vikings and Cooper Kupp (2021) of the Los Angeles Rams broke the RB-heavy trend by winning OPOY.
Sportsbook operators that offer Michigan sports betting bonuses have prop bets on a dizzying array of NFL wagers, including individual player awards.
Offensive Player Of The Year Trends: Average Age
Average Age | 28 |
The average age of OPOY winners in this century is 28. That is very close to their defensive counterparts (average age 27). Check out our NFL Defensive Player of the Year breakdown for more information on the trends for that award.
The most recent quarterback to win Offensive Player of the Year was Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in 2018, the year he was also named NFL MVP for the first time. Those honors came in Mahomes’ age-23 season. Two others recently have achieved the feat at such a young age – Jefferson in that 2022 season and Rams running back Todd Gurley in 2017.
At the other end of the spectrum, Peyton Manning was 37 in 2013 when he earned his second OPOY for his season with the Denver Broncos. Tom Brady was 33 in 2010, the last of his three OPOYs with the New England Patriots.
Bookmark BetMichigan.com for more Michigan sports betting insights as the NFL regular season gets closer.
USA Today photo by Lucas Peltier
