The 2017 NFL season kicks off Thursday, September 7 when the Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots face the Kansas City Chiefs in Foxborough, MA. Even though we're still a few months from that date, we still have NFL odds to discuss.
NFL futures never sleep. Several NFL oddsmakers already have lines for the 2017 season.
Here are a few of the more interesting NFL bets we found. First, let's go conference by conference NFL odds.[divider]
NFL Division Championship Odds
NFC North
Green Bay Packers -290
Minnesota Vikings +350
Detroit Lions +550
Chicago Bears +2,800
The Bears are a bit of an outlier here. This has everything to do with their turnover ratio. No team forced fewer turnovers than the Bears' 11, while only two teams turned the ball over more on the other end. Their turnover margin of -20 tied the Jets for the worst in the league. If they can figure that out they will be better off, but still not close to winning the division while Aaron Rodgers is around.
Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers are tied with the Seattle Seahawks for the second best Super Bowl odds of any NFC team at 11/1. Only the Dallas Cowboys at 10/1 have better odds among NFC teams.[divider]
NFC South
Atlanta Falcons +165
Carolina Panthers +200
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +310
New Orleans Saints +400
The NFC South is definitely the tightest divisional race in the conference, with all four teams better than 4/1. Compare that to the AFC East, where Miami has the second best odds at 8/1.[divider]
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys +125
New York Giants +230
Philadelphia Eagles +330
Washington Redskins +475
One of the closest divisions to call, as usual. No team has won the NFC East in back to back seasons since Philadelphia won it four times from 2001 to 2004. [divider]
NFC West
Seattle Seahawks -375
Arizona Cardinals +250
Los Angeles Rams +1,800
San Francisco 49ers +3,500
This is by far the most 'certain' of any division right now. The Seahawks are the clear favorite at -375. No NFC team is favored more heavily in their division than Seattle, and no team has longer odds than San Francisco. It wasn't that long ago these teams faced off for a chance to beat Denver in the Super Bowl. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
If you're REALLY low on the 49ers, you can throw down a couple bucks on their "Will any team be winless (0-16) during the 2017 NFL regular season?" line and win $150 on a ten dollar bet if you're right. [divider]
AFC North
Pittsburgh Steelers -155
Baltimore Ravens +240
Cincinnati Bengals +325
Cleveland Browns +6,000
Poor Cleveland. They just can't catch a break. To be fair though, the Steelers feel like a lock here. They have the most talented offense in the division, and maybe/probably the league as well.[divider]
AFC South
Tennessee Titans +200
Houston Texans +215
Indianapolis Colts +215
Jacksonville Jaguars +450
Surprising to see the Titans with the best odds in the AFC South. Tennessee hasn't won the division since 2008, but with Andrew Luck and the Colts struggles last year and the Texans quarterback questions, it makes sense that Marcus Mariota and the Titans would take the reigns. [divider]
AFC East
New England Patriots -2,500
Miami Dolphins +800
Buffalo Bills +1,500
New York Jets +6,000
Wow. I guess winning your division eight years in a row and 13 of the last 14 seasons makes the oddsmakers pretty confident. The smart money is still on the Patriots. Even if Tom Brady got hit by a bus tomorrow, they might have the second best quarterback in the division on their bench. No wonder the Patriots' over/under win total is 12.5 — the highest of any team in the NFL.
Do we know that? Absolutely not. But a replacement-level NFL starter would still be better than what the Jets and Bills are working with, and if you had to bet your house on who was better: Tannehill or Garoppolo, who would you take?[divider]
AFC West
Oakland Raiders +155
Kansas City Chiefs +185
Denver Broncos +310
Los Angeles Chargers +500
The Raiders aren't worried about Derek Carr's broken leg. They just made him the highest paid player in NFL history with a 5-year $125 million contract. And if the Raiders aren't worried, neither are the oddsmakers. They made Oakland the No. 1 option in a tightly-contested (other than the Chargers) division.