Betting NFL Futures for the 2025 Super Bowl

by Wayne Root

Tuesday, May 28, 2024
NFL FUTURES RUNDOWN 
 
Want to wager on your team to win the Super Bowl? To make the playoffs? To finish with a certain number of victories? You can do all that—and much more—with NFL futures.
 
NFL futures betting allows sports bettors to wager on long-term outcomes of the NFL season before and during the course of the season. This popular method of betting on sports typically includes predictions on team performances, potential division champions, conference winners, the Super Bowl champions and other popular futures markets.
 
BETTING NFL FUTURES
 
When it comes to betting NFL 
futures, future bets offer an exciting opportunity to predict outcomes well in advance. Oddsmakers set NFL futures odds early in the summer and give constant updates thru preseason, and these odds change throughout the regular season based on team performances. 
 
Currently, these are the top four listed to win the 2025 Superbowl:
Kansas City +650
San Francisco +650
Baltimore +1100
Detroit + 1300
Every team has a price. And team prices vary depending on where you bet. 
 
2023 conference champions have strangleholds on their respective divisions: The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers hold commanding positions over their divisions, with oddsmakers projecting more than a 70% implied probability for each to be crowned division champs in 2024.
 
MONEY BEING TIED UP
 
Money is tied up for a long time – When you make a futures bet you commit your money until the bet is resolved – often weeks or months. If that money were in your bankroll you could bet it several times over, and as long as you are a long term winning bettor you would have an expectation to produce profit with those bets. Since the money is tied up, though, it is exposed to risk while not earning any return. That means that there is an opportunity cost involved in future bets – you need to consider not just the return on the bet you are making, but also the lost potential return from the bets you could make if you weren’t invested in the futures bet. This opportunity cost means that you need to have an even higher payoff on your futures bet to make it worthwhile.
 
LOCK IN LINE PRICES
 
One of the most engaging aspects of NFL futures is the opportunity to secure potentially high payouts. The odds are set well in advance of the season’s start and as variables change — such as player injuries, trades and winning streaks — so too do the odds. This dynamic nature keeps bettors invested throughout the season, providing ongoing engagement with each shift in the competitive landscape.
 
ARE FUTURE BETS WISE?
 
Future bets – a bet on whether a team is going to win a league or event that is usually going to be held well in the future – are something that books absolutely love to post and take action on. There’s a pretty simple reason for that – they are mostly horrible bets, so the books make a killing on them. They are exposed to some risk if a longshot comes through at a huge price, but that doesn’t often happen. Most of the time they get to collect a large amount of money, use it as they want for months until the outcome of the bet is determined, and then pay out far less than they brought in. It really couldn’t be better for them.
 
NFL SUPER BOWL FUTURE ODDS
 
NFL Super Bowl futures odds are a cornerstone of sports betting, allowing bettors to place wagers on which team they believe will win the most highly-anticipated sporting event in the United States, the Super Bowl. Futures betting odds are available year-round from top betting sites and fluctuate based on team performances, player injuries, trades and public betting trends.
 
Super Bowl futures odds offer a unique opportunity for bettors to lock in prices on a team’s chance to win the championship well before the event occurs. This common futures bet type requires not just a passion for football but a strategic approach to understanding the dynamics of the NFL.
 
WHAT INFLUENCES FUTURE ODDS
 
Team Performance: 
Regular season and playoff performances give a clear indication of a team’s potential to compete for the championship.
 
Player Impact: 
The health and performance of key players can significantly alter a team’s odds. For instance, the injury or return of a star quarterback like Patrick Mahomes might lead to dramatic changes in odds.
 
Off-season Moves: 
Trades and free agency acquisitions can boost a team’s odds if they are perceived to strengthen the roster. The acquisition of a high-impact player such as Aaron Rodgers by the Denver Broncos serves as a prime example.
 
Historical Trends: 
Some teams, like the New England Patriots, have a track record of performing well under pressure and in playoff scenarios, which can sway the odds in their favor.
 
STAY INFORMED 
 
Bettors need to stay informed about NFL developments throughout the season and the offseason to make the most of Super Bowl futures. This form of betting is not only about predicting the winner but also about knowing when to place a bet based on value odds.
 
WHEN TO MAKE FUTURES BET
 
Most bettors place NFL futures wagers before the start of the regular season, but that’s certainly not required. In fact, most futures markets remain open at NFL betting sites throughout the entire season, with sportsbooks constantly adjusting odds based on player and/or team performances, significant injuries, trades and betting liability.
 
THINK LIKE A SHARP
 
To kickstart your thinking for the season – I’ve talked to a few guys who like to study futures odds as a way to start their preparations for the upcoming season. The odds give them a basic indication of what oddsmakers think of the coming season, and by doing their own research they can find the situations where they agree with the oddsmakers, and those where they differ significantly. The areas where they differ need to be researched more, but they could represent a nice value. Casual bettors often are drawn to Super Bowl futures so they can bet on their favorite team and turn a tidy profit if that team caps a magical season with a championship.
 
BETTING LIKE A SHARP
 
Sharp bettors get involved in the Super Bowl futures market for one reason: value. If they believe strongly that oddsmakers are selling particular teams short, savvy bettors will pounce on them.
 
For much of the 2023-24 season, the San Francisco 49ers were favored to win the Super Bowl, especially when the Kansas City Chiefs slumped during the second half of the season. Bettors who jumped on them late in the year got better odds than you would have gotten earlier in the season.
 
SEASON WIN TOTALS
 
Season win totals are a popular type of NFL futures betting where bettors predict the total number of wins a team will secure during their regular season games. Sportsbooks set an over/under on wins for each team and bettors can wager whether a team will win more (over) or fewer (under) games than the listed total.
 
This form of betting requires a deep understanding of each team’s strengths, weaknesses and potential for the upcoming season. Factors such as the difficulty of the team’s schedule, off-season roster changes, injuries and historical performance play critical roles in influencing these decisions.
 
ANALYSIS OF LAST YEAR
 
For bettors, analyzing team performance trends from previous seasons can be invaluable. Consideration of a team’s draft picks and any changes in coaching staff can also provide insights into potential improvements or declines in team performance.
 
Trends of note: 
The last 11 Super Bowl winners have won at least 11 regular season games, including the defending champion Chiefs, who went 11-6 in 2023.
 
Think Kansas City can win its third straight Super Bowl in 2025? History suggests it’s unlikely, as no NFL team has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls.
 
It’s also probably unwise to make a Super Bowl futures bet on a team that wasn’t very good last season. Since the 2009 campaign, only the Philadelphia Eagles (2017) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2020) hoisted the Lombardi Trophy after winning fewer than 10 games the previous season (both went 7-9).
 
KEEP IT INTERESTING 
 
There’s nothing wrong with putting a few bucks down to give yourself a rooting interest for the season, or to back your favorite boyhood squad. If you are doing this with a significant portion of your bankroll then you might be an idiot, but if the amounts are small then fun is as good a reason as any.
 
REMEMBER THIS ABOUT BETTING FUTURES
 
The risk is massive and almost impossible to calculate – Let’s say you are going to bet on NFL futures right now. You need to factor in several things that you can’t really know about with any certainty – who is going to start in any open positions, how are the rookies and the free agents going to fit in, how are any new coaches going to work out, how are the teams your team is playing looking, who is going to get hurt on your team and for how long, and on and on and on and on. Any amount of uncertainty increases the risk on a bet, and therefore increases the amount of return you require to compensate for that risk. Because of the complexity of risk assessment it is incredibly easy to overestimate your edge in futures bets.

All photographic images used for editorial content have been licensed from the Associated Press.

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