NFL playoff odds: Lamar Jackson favored to rush for most yards in postseason
Even though he's obviously a quarterback, Baltimore's Lamar Jackson is favored to lead all players in rushing during the NFL playoffs.
In leading the Baltimore Ravens to a 14-2 record and the top seed in the AFC playoffs, Lamar Jackson almost surely will win NFL MVP honors and he set the league's single-season rushing record for a quarterback with 1,206 yards. His 6.9 yards per carry also lead the entire NFL. Still, it's a bit of a surprise on the DraftKings NFL futures odds that Jackson is the +300 favorite to lead this postseason in rushing yards.
As far as this writer can tell, no quarterback has ever led a postseason in rushing. Michael Vick had the previous single-season mark with 1,039 in 2006, but his Atlanta Falcons failed to reach that postseason.
We earlier looked at the passing yardage leader in these playoffs and mentioned that ideally bettors pick a player who will play in the most games as possible. That would be four by the eight Wild-Card teams if they were to reach the Super Bowl. Alas, no Wild-Card team has done that since the Green Bay Packers in 2010. The four teams with first-round byes, Jackson's Ravens, the Kansas City Chiefs, Packers and San Francisco 49ers would play a maximum of three games.
The rushing leader last postseason was New England's Sony Michel with 336 yards in three games and he's +550 on this prop. Another Raven, tailback Mark Ingram, is the +450 second-favorite. He rushed for 84 yards in two playoff games last year with the Saints while sharing time with Alvin Kamara. Ingram put up 1,018 yards this season. He played 15 of 16 games like Jackson with both getting Week 17 off.
Kamara is +500 on this prop. His Saints are 8-point favorites on the NFL odds in Sunday's Wild-Card game against the visiting Minnesota Vikings. Their top running back, Dalvin Cook, is +2000. Regular-season rushing champion Derrick Henry of the Titans is +1200. He would have much shorter odds but Tennessee is a 5-point dog Saturday night at New England.
For most rushing TDs, Ingram is the +300 NFL betting favorite followed by San Francisco's Raheem Mostert (+500), Jackson (+525), Green Bay's Aaron Jones (+750) and Kamara (+900).