NFL Futures Betting Odds 2023-24: Best Picks for Super Bowl 58 Entering Week 2
But Week 1 did provide us with enough data and storylines that we saw a corresponding shift in NFL futures odds. Ahead of the season kickoff, the three teams with the best odds to win the Lombardi Trophy this season were the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills.
There were questions about Brock Purdy heading into this season after he had surgery on his right elbow and worked on rehab through training camp and the preseason. After his Week 1 showing, where he totaled 220 passing yards and two touchdowns to Brandon Aiyuk, those questions have seemingly been answered.
Christian McCaffery handled things in the ground game, rushing for 151 yards. And to round out their well-deserved reputation as one of the most complete teams in the league, the defense completely shut down Pittsburgh, sacking Kenny Pickett five times and picking him off twice. Nick Bosa, now the highest-paid defensive player in the league, had two tackles and a quarterback hit.
And people were high on the Detroit Lions heading into this season as well. But not as high as the Chiefs, and certainly not high on Detroit to waltz into Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs rarely lose, and officially turn their Super Bowl celebration into a Super Bowl hangover. Yet that’s what happened in Week 1.
Many people will point to Travis Kelce missing Week 1 as the reason the Chiefs lost the game. It certainly didn’t do the offense any favors. But Patrick Mahomes and his other pass-catchers did not appear to be on the same page. Receivers dropped multiple passes and no one player went over 50 yards. On the ground, Isiah Pacheco averaged 2.9 yards per carry, while Clyde Edwards-Helaire didn’t do much better at 3.7. Mahomes was the team’s leading rusher.
The Eagles relied heavily on two of their offensive weapons to get the job done against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night. D’Andre Swift ran the ball a whopping 28 times, totaling 175 yards and a touchdown. And DeVonta Smith’s 63-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter (on 131 yards total) was, in retrospect, the dagger from which the Vikings could not recover.
Thursday night, the Eagles looked much more like a team that could be destined to win the Super Bowl this year. Jalen Hurts’ stat line wasn’t, on the surface, anything to write home about: 18-of-23 for 193 yards, a touchdown and an interception. But he also ran the ball into the end zone twice and mastered the interplay between the Eagles’ high-octane pass game and bruising run game.