NFL Free Agency Super Bowl 50 Odds

NFL Free Agency Super Bowl 50 Odds

NFL Free Agency Super Bowl 50 OddsThere are a handful of words you can use to describe the first few days of the NFL’s free agency period. The word “frenzy” has been thrown around. Same with “carousel”. Other words that have been uttered in the past few days include “fever”, “madness”, and “hysteria”. All these words are apt to describe what’s been going on in the NFL with so many players getting traded, signing with other teams, and even retiring.

More than anybody else, sportsbooks took notice of all the moves being made in the free agency period. The kind of had to because all the player movement was having direct effects on the Super Bowl 50 betting market. Take the Seattle Seahawks for example. Before free agency began, the Seahawks were second favorites to win Super Bowl 50 at 7/1 odds. The only team with shorter odds were the reigning Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots at 11/2 odds.

Then Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis announced that he was returning to the New York Jets. Shortly after that, the Seahawks swing a blockbuster deal with the New Orleans Saints that sent Pro Bowl tight end Jimmy Graham to the northwest. Once news arrived of these two stunning transactions, the Seahawks saw their odds drop to 5/1 with the Patriots going up to 6/1.

Think this only applies to the favorites? Guess again.

The odds adjustments were happening all over the board, including the Indianapolis Colts, which saw its odds to win Super Bowl 50 shrink from 15/1 to 9/1 after announcing the acquisitions of linebacker Trent Cole, tail back Frank Gore, and wide receiver Andre Johnson. Same with the Miami Dolphins, which made the biggest splash of free agency by signing defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Once considered as 40/1 long shots, the arrival of Suh and how much he’s expected to elevate that Dolphins defense has resulted in Miami seeing its odds drop to 33/1.

Speaking of huge swings, the movements weren’t exclusive to teams’ perceived improvements. Those who momentarily players like the Patriots saw their odds rise as a result of the defections. One team that had the opposite adjustment to the Dolphins are the San Francisco 49ers. For a while, the Niners stayed at that 22/1 to 25/1 range, but now that they’ve so many players to free agency and retirement, sportsbooks had no choice but to raise their number to 33/1 with some even posting 40/1 odds. Even the Saints, after losing Graham to Seattle, saw their odds rise from 20/1 to 33/1.

Here’s the crazy part: all these movements aren’t expected to stop anytime soon. There are still a lot of free agents in the market and once that market dries up, the league then turns its attention to the NFL Draft next month. Such is the reality with the NFL these days. It might still be a five-month league, but the attention behind it doesn’t dissipate no matter what month of the year it is.

Stay tuned after the NFL Draft. I’m pretty confident saying that the odds we have now will be dramatically altered after that.

Odds courtesy of Bodog

Eagles from 25-1 to 30-1 (Trading for Sam Bradford and inheriting his $11million salary?…although rumors they are looking to use Bradford to trade up the draft to grab Mariota)

49ers from 25-1 to 40-1 as their team, especially their defense, has been decimated with both Justin Smith and Patrick Willis retiring.  They have new Head Coach, no more Frank Gore, and we believe far too many changes for this team to be competitive this upcoming season.

And the Jets, with their signing of Darrelle Revis (which long term could hurt the organization) moved from 100-1 to 75-1 to win it all next year.