Texans vs. Bengals NFL Week 10 odds, props: C.J. Stroud running away with Offensive Rookie of Year; surging Joe Burrow now taking heaviest MVP action

Entering Week 10 of the 2023 NFL season, Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is taking by far the most betting action at DraftKings to win NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and Cincinnati Bengals counterpart Joe Burrow has taken over the betting action lead to win MVP honors. The former top-two picks face off for the first time Sunday in Cincinnati with the Bengals at -6.5 on the SportsLine consensus.

Stroud, the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft out of Ohio State, was historically good Sunday in Houston's wild 39-37 win over Tampa Bay. He threw for 470 yards and five scores without a pick for a rating of 147.8. The yards and rating set new NFL rookie records for rookie (minimum 30 attempts in a game).

The 22-year-old Stroud became the youngest player ever with at least 450 passing yards in a game, surpassing Jacky Lee (22 years and 94 days old on Oct. 13, 1961 with the Houston Oilers against the Boston Patriots). Stroud became just the sixth player in history with at least 450 passing yards, five touchdown passes with no interceptions in a game. Tom Brady never did it. Aaron Rodgers never did it. Drew Brees never did it.

Entering Week 9, Stroud was -165 to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and is now a runaway -500 favorite with Rams wideout Puka Nacua next, way down at +650. Stroud also leads the league in fourth-quarter passing touchdowns with six, has the best passer rating in the second half of games, and has six TDs and zero picks on third down all season. The Texans have already surpassed their win total from last season and are 4-2 in their past six games, with the two losses coming on field goals as time expired. Houston has spent the sixth-most time in the NFL with a lead since Week 3, behind only the Ravens, Chiefs, Lions, Jaguars and Eagles.

Could Stroud actually lead the league in passing yards? His 2,270 are sixth-most in a player's first eight career games in NFL history – incidentally, Burrow ranks fifth on that list. Miami's Tua Tagovailoa leads the league with 2,609 yards passing but has played nine games to Stroud's eight as Houston hasn't had its bye week yet. Stroud is seventh in yards and +1600 to win the title. His 14 TD passes are also seventh, and he's +2500 to lead in that category.

Burrow is from Ohio and also attended Ohio State but saw the field sparingly, appearing in 11 total games over two seasons, throwing for 287 yards and two touchdowns. He graduated early and transferred to LSU for his final two college seasons, winning the 2019 Heisman Trophy and going first in that year's draft – the slot Stroud clearly should have been in this year.

The Bengals really struggled early on, as did Burrow with his calf injury, but they have won four straight and Burrow leads the NFL in passer rating since Week 5 after ranking last in Weeks 1-4. In Sunday's win over Buffalo, he became the second player ever with a 75% completion rate (min. 150 attempts) and 10 passing touchdowns in a four-game span, along with Peyton Manning in his 2013 MVP season.

Burrow was +5000 to win MVP just two weeks ago and +2000 entering Week 9 but is now +700 while leading in tickets and handle at DraftKings. Burrow has the two highest passing yardage games in the NFL over the past three seasons with 525 vs. Baltimore in 2021 and 481 vs. Atlanta last year. Stroud's 470 last week are third-most in that span. Stroud is now second in MVP bets and third in handle but is a +10000 longshot. 

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