Super Bowl MVP: Sprinkle on these alternative players

And then there were two! While some can talk about refs and injuries all they want, there's no changing what we have, and what we have is one hell of a Super Bowl coming down the runway.

Early betting looks and odds for Super Bowl LVII

It's the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs meeting in the big game, with plenty of storylines following the matchup. You've surely heard about Andy Reid against his former team and the Kelce brothers squaring off, but one of the more intriguing ones to us is that the two quarterbacks here were the MVP favorites for much of the season.

While that regular-season honor is likely to be bestowed onto Patrick Mahomes, Super Bowl MVP odds have Jalen Hurts listed as the current favorite at +110 on DK. That would tie into the fact that as of this writing, Philly finds itself as two-point favorites. The lines initially opened Chiefs -1.5 on most books Sunday night but ultimately flipped and settled on the Eagles -2 for now. DraftKings has the over/under set at 50 points.

Moneyline: Kansas City +110 | Philadelphia -130
Super Bowl MVP odds:

• Hurts (+110)
• Mahomes (+130)
• AJ Brown (+1000)
• Travis Kelce (+1000)
• Miles Sanders (+2200)
• DeVonta Smith (+2500)
• Isiah Pacheco (+3500)
• Chris Jones (+4000)
• Jerick McKinnon (+5000)
• Haason Reddick (+5000)

While quarterbacks are the understandable favorites for this award, we typically like to sprinkle a few bets on some other players in this market. Since 2014, quarterbacks have won Super Bowl MVP five times with WRs and edge rushers winning two each.

At first glance, the two alternative choices we're liking the most are Travis Kelce at +1000 and Haason Reddick at +5000.

Reddick has been a game-wrecker for this Philadelphia defense all year. He logged 16.0 sacks during the regular season and has followed that up with 3.5 sacks in the postseason, one of which forced a fumble on Brock Purdy and knocked him out of the game. What could really put Reddick on Super Bowl MVP level is the forced fumbles. He now has six on the year, and a few game-changing plays like that if the game is otherwise low-scoring may give him the nod.

For Kansas City, Kelce is clearly one of the most important players it has. He's had loads of playoff success, and if he dominates targets and yards for this passing attack in a win, one may have to consider him for this award over Mahomes.

We'll have plenty more to consider and talk about for the next two weeks, but that's where our head was at this morning. We sprinkled a bet on both.

In the news ...

Early bets for Super Bowl LVII — The Eagles beat the 49ers 31-7 in the NFC Championship Game, and Kansas City survived Cincinnati 23-20 with a last-second field goal in the AFC Championship Game. The matchup is now set, and hop here for some early looks at the available bets and trends for the big game. Some fun bets include the coin toss result and whether or not a non-QB will throw a touchdown (+2500 on FanDuel).

Novak Djokovic wins Australian Open, ties Nadal for most Grand Slam titles in history — After cruising in straight sets in the Australian Open final, Novak Djokovic is now tied for the most Grand Slam titles by a men's player. The win was Djokovic's 10th in Australia and 22nd overall, tying him with Rafael Nadal. Djokovic will have a chance to take sole possession of the most Grand Slams ever at the French Open in May, and he is currently the +150 favorite to do just that.

Kyler Murray could miss significant portion of 2023 season — According to reports from Ian Rapoport, the ACL injury suffered by Cardinals QB Kyler Murray at the tail end of this season is likely to affect his availability deep into next season. Reports suggest Murray may not be ready until halfway through the year. Arizona is still looking for their next head coach after firing Kliff Kingsbury, with the odds favoring Brian Flores or Sean Payton for the job.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll