5 best bets for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year

4. Nick Bosa +750

Nick Bosa is an injury risk for the bettors out there, but he’s already set to play Week 1. He’s largely considered to be the most talented defensive rookie in the league, thus why he went second overall in this past year’s NFL Draft. We are going into this bet blind, since we haven’t seen him play for a month after his ankle injury. However, we’ve seen what this kid could do.

His brother Joey took home the award in 2016, so anything less would be a major loss for Nick. The Bosa brothers are going to be competing with each other all season on the stats sheet, and that will help Nick Bosa pad the stat sheet.

The San Francisco 49ers are a confusing team when it comes to projections. Jimmy Garoppolo might be good, but we don’t know. There are pieces on offense, but they are missing those top pieces. Their receivers are average at best, the team doesn’t have a true number-one running back, and the offensive line might be alright.

That’s why a lot of the 49ers success has to fall on the defense. That will help put a spotlight on Bosa’s play. In college, Bosa was able to get into the backfield with ease. In his sophomore year at Ohio State, he had 8.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss. That was against some really good Big 10 offensive lines. That season, he played some of his best games in the final three contests against Michigan, Wisconson in the conference title game and then USC in the bowl game.

Bosa is still a pretty good bet at +750. The injury didn’t add a ton to his betting line, but that extra $150 (he was originally 6/1) makes it much more worthwhile to make this bet.