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By Max Meyer

Tom Brady is the -180 odds-on favorite to be named MVP at Caesars Sportsbook, however there is another major NFL award futures market that is a lot more crowded at the top.

Among the four names atop the board for Defensive Player of the Year odds, one player is trying to become the first to win the award four times. Another is attempting to be the first rookie to be bestowed this honor in 30 years. Two others are gunning for the all-time single-season sack record. So make no mistake, this is one intriguing race that likely won’t be figured out any time soon.

“It’s definitely close, and the odds are reflecting that,” said Adam Pullen, Assistant Director of Trading at Caesars Sportsbook. “It’s going to be interesting to see who separates themselves over the last four games, all it takes is one dominant performance to see a big jump like [Aaron] Donald on Monday night. When you have award voting, there’s a lot of subjectivity from voters, so we’ll see if that holds any weight. What’s going to be the tiebreaker in voters’ minds if there are these many qualified candidates? Obviously you’re going to have great stats to choose from, but there can be emotional biases in play.”

Aaron Donald was the preseason favorite at Caesars Sportsbook to win a historic fourth Defensive Player of the Year at +450, with Myles Garrett right behind at +550. Garrett overtook Donald for the top spot on Sept. 27 after moving from +700 to +400. The Browns’ former No. 1 overall pick hasn’t been higher than +400 since, and reached as low as +160 from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.

T.J. Watt became the third player this season to be the Defensive Player of the Year favorite at Caesars Sportsbook on Dec. 6. Watt racked up 3.5 sacks in the Steelers’ tight victory over the Ravens on Dec. 5, and his odds accordingly went from +900 to +175. Garrett was moved to the second spot at +275 from +170.

Watt is not the only contender to experience a massive shift this month. Micah Parsons opened at 100/1, was taken off the board in late September and went back up at 30/1 in December. The Cowboys rookie went from 30/1 all the way down to +300 on Dec. 13 following his two-sack performance against Washington on Dec. 12. He’s now the +300 co-favorite with Garrett at Caesars Sportsbook, with Watt next at +400.

Meanwhile, Donald was at his highest price all season at 25/1 before the Rams’ Monday night battle with the Cardinals. A three-sack effort in a crucial triumph over an NFC West foe prompted an alteration to +750, good for the fourth-lowest odds in this market. Nick Bosa (12/1), Trevon Diggs (14/1) and Matt Judon (16/1) are the only other players with odds lower than 20/1.

“A market like Defensive Player of the Year is not going to garner the handle that MVP would,” Pullen said. “So you might have more drastic movements just because of the handle difference. It’s the same principles when you talk about basing it off performance, but when you have less money in the pot, you might want to be more aggressive with your odds moves on something you don’t have all the liquidity with.”

In terms of betting action, Garrett leads in both total number of tickets (14%) and total dollars wagered (29%) to win the award. One Indiana bettor has $4,000 on Garrett at +300 for potential winnings of $12,000, with the only bigger wager being $4,100 on Watt at +325 for potential winnings of $13,325.

Watt is fourth in tickets at 9%, trailing Garrett, Chase Young (13%) and Trevon Diggs (12%). The Steelers’ pass-rusher has nabbed 12% of the total dollars wagered along with Young, which is only behind Garrett and Diggs (13%).

Parsons has collected 5% of the total number of tickets and 4% of the total dollars wagered, and has attracted a couple noteworthy longshot bets. A Colorado bettor laid $1,000 on Parsons 35/1 for potential winnings of $35,000, while a Nevada bettor placed $100 on Parsons 150/1 for potential winnings of $15,000.

Check out Caesars Sportsbook’s latest odds and trends for the top contenders for Defensive Player of the Year below.