The New England Patriots may be sulking following their 41-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2018 Super Bowl, but oddsmakers are still pegging them as the favorites to win the title next year.
Both live and online bookmakers have pegged the Patriots as the odds-on pick to be the 2019 Super Bowl champions, putting them ahead of the defending champion Eagles, who are the second pick at most sports books. At the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, the Patriots stand as the 9-2 frontrunners, while the Eagles come in at 6-1.
Eagles Odds Improve
The Eagles were fetching a higher price before the Super Bowl. Naturally, their victory spurred a rash of bets on the newly-crowned champs.
“We opened the Eagles at 10-1, but the move to 6-1 was just a reaction to the expected money coming in after they won,” said Ed Salmons, manager of the Westgate SuperBook. “[The] public will think if they won the Super Bowl without Carson Wentz, when he comes back they should be even better.”
Some of the other usual suspects fill in the positions right behind New England and Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh Steelers are listed at +800, while the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers were both given +1200 odds. The New Orleans Saints (+1600) and Atlanta Falcons (+1800) are also among the top picks, while the Bears, Jets, and Browns are at the bottom of the list, each available at +10000.
Elite QBs Drive Futures Betting
The main factor in these early odds may be quarterback play. While there have been exceptions, teams that win Super Bowls tend to have elite quarterbacks at the helm. That’s why the list of favorites features teams starring names like Tom Brady, Wentz, Ben Roethlisberger, and Aaron Rodgers, among other top passers.
A few less heralded teams have been given reasonable odds of contending for a title next year, too. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who nearly upset the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, are listed at 20-1. So are the San Francisco 49ers, who looked much stronger late in the season with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback.
The odds are largely the same across the landscape of online betting sites. Though the exact odds vary, everyone has the Patriots as the favorite heading into the offseason, with Betfair listing them at 5-1. The only real point of contention is who should be second favorite: Betfair lists the Steelers at 8-1 ahead of the Eagles (10-1), while other sites have Philadelphia in the second spot, or list both Pennsylvania-based teams at the same odds.
While most of the NFL futures attention is on 2019, however, that’s not where the action stops, as some oddsmakers have also posted their numbers for the 2020 Super Bowl. BetDSI Sportsbook has installed the Eagles as a 5-1 favorite for two years from now, with the Los Angeles Rams second choice at 7-1. The older Patriots still aren’t far behind, though: at 8-1, they are still considered a formidable contender for the foreseeable future.