2019 NFL Coach of the Year Odds: Cleveland’s Kitchens the Preseason Favorite

NFL Coach of the Year generally isn't an award that most folks eagerly await. That certainly changes if you have a bet on it, though.

While some may believe the award should go to a coach whose team overperforms the most — like a team whose preseason win total was four, but ends up with nine wins — that generally isn't the case.

Excluding 2012 when Bruce Arians went 9-3 as interim coach for the Colts, the last time a coach won this award with fewer than 10 wins was 1990 when Jimmy Johnson went 7-9 with the Cowboys (they went 1-15 in '89).

Many of the award winners' teams have gone from a losing record to the playoffs, including Matt Nagy and the Bears last year. Nagy, who was 23-1 to win Coach of the Year in early August, helped Chicago improve from 5-11 to 12-4 in his first year as head coach.

2019 NFL Coach of the Year Odds

This year, the favorite is Freddie Kitchens of the Browns. After Hue Jackson and Todd Haley were fired last year, Kitchens was promoted to offensive coordinator and helped the team make some marked improvement.

Baker Mayfield particularly excelled, going from a 78.9 QB Rating under Haley to 106.2 under Kitchens. With Cleveland a very trendy team this offseason, it's understandable that Kitchens is atop this list.

Next is Frank Reich of the Colts at +1000. Reich helped coach the team to a 10-6 record last year in his rookie coaching season. That lofty record and postseason berth do not, however, leave much room for improvement, which will hurt his chances.

Five coaches are listed at 14-1 and all five of them are on teams with high expectations. If Bill Belichick takes home the hardware for the fourth time, he'll tie Don Shula for most of all time.

The bar is set a little higher for a coach like Belichick, who has had at least 14 wins in each of his three previous award-winning seasons — the last of which came in 2010.

Last year's winner Matt Nagy is down at 20-1, which may seem low, but this is not an award that is often won in consecutive seasons. The last time there was a back-to-back winner was when Washington's Joe Gibbs pulled it off in the 1982 and 1983 seasons.

My favorite current value is Matt LaFleur of the Packers at 20-1. Green Bay went just 6-9-1 last year, but I don't think anyone is expecting that to happen again considering it still has Aaron Rodgers.

With a win total of 9 and even 9.5 at some books, the Packers could very well improve by four or five wins without LaFleur having to do all that much.

If you plan on betting on them to eclipse their win total at -110 juice, you should certainly consider taking LaFleur at 20-1 as a double-digit win season should put him in the running for the award.