Rookie of the Year honors usually signify the start of a special career.
Hotshots like Cam Newton, Aaron Donald, Saquon Barkley, and Micah Parsons all captured ROY in their debut seasons and went on to live up to the hype.
But every once in a while, you get a Cadillac Williams.
The 2026 NFL Draft class looks promising on both sides of the ball, and I’m breaking down the NFL Rookie of the Year odds — highlighting my contenders, pretenders, and best bets for ROY honors this season.
Offensive Rookie of the Year
Contender: 
WR Jordyn Tyson (+650)
This used to be an award dominated by quarterbacks and running backs. In today’s NFL, however, pass-happy play has helped receivers win three of the last five OROYs.
Jordyn Tyson has an ideal setup with the New Orleans Saints. The wide receiver gets a budding quarterback in Tyler Shough, who isn’t afraid to let it fly (10th in average intended air yards), and a progressive offensive head coach in Kellen Moore. He also plays half his games inside the fast track of the Superdome.
On top of that, WR1 Chris Olave can’t seem to stay healthy, which means more balls could find their way to the Arizona State standout.
Pretender: 
QB Fernando Mendoza (+430)
Fernando Mendoza is tied as the top favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2026. We’ll see if snubbing President Trump’s White House invite puts the No. 1 overall pick on the ROY blacklist.
What will more likely dampen Mendoza’s award chances is that he sits behind veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins on the Las Vegas Raiders' depth chart.
Las Vegas brought in Cousins to bridge the gap as Mendoza gets his feet wet, and could keep the Indiana product on ice early in the season.
Contender: 
RB Jadarian Price (+850)
Jadarian Price steps into a slot formerly occupied by a Super Bowl MVP, so the ceiling is pretty high. The departed Kenneth Walker had to share snaps with Zach Charbonnet last season, but the latter’s ACL injury leaves Price as the Seattle Seahawks' RB1 entering Week 1.
The “other” Notre Dame running back was a surprise first-round selection at No. 32, but the Seahawks clearly weren’t messing around and see big things from Jadarian Price.
With the way the defending champs play defense, he’ll get plenty of touches as Seattle chews up the clock in the second half.
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Defensive Rookie of the Year
Contender: 
LB Rueben Bain Jr. (+500)
Rueben Bain Jr. made waves at the NFL Draft with his “no nonsense” walk to the stage.
Bain will have plenty of opportunities to build on that persona, giving Todd Bowles’ aggressive defense a proven pass rusher. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers blitzed at the fourth-highest clip but generated the fifth-lowest pressure rate, finishing with 37 sacks in 2025.
The Miami standout won the Ted Hendricks Award (best college DE), just like 2020 DROY Chase Young, and is quickly earning praise from Bowles. He said Bain is “already in midseason form” after turning heads at rookie minicamp.
Pretender: 
S Caleb Downs (+850)
I’m not crapping on Caleb Downs with this “pretender” label at all.
As a Dallas Cowboys fan, this is exactly what we needed after bleeding big plays through the air in 2025... but Dallas also got pushed around on the ground, sitting 29th in run defense EPA.
Downs is a finger in the dam of this Cowboys' stop unit, and his contributions can be great and still go unnoticed in Christian Parker’s two-high safety sets. Erik McMillan was the last safety to win DROY back in 1988, and all but three DROYs over the past 11 seasons have come from the front seven.
Contender: 
LB Arvell Reese (+850)
The Ohio State star joins a dangerous New York Giants' defense, which is now under the tutelage of new head coach John Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson. Their system can maximize Reese’s sideline-to-sideline coverage.
The No. 5 overall pick raised eyebrows with his selection of jersey No. 52 (same as Ravens great Ray Lewis) and has already drawn comparisons to another HoF linebacker in Luke Kuechly, who won DROY in 2012.
