NFL Futures - Lines Legend
What Are NFL Futures?
Which NFL team will win the Super Bowl? Oddsmakers set NFL future odds very early in the preseason, and change them throughout the regular season, depending on a teams’ successes or lack thereof. NFL future bets can be profitable and it’s always fun to predict winners so early in the season. Be careful though, wagering a large amount on an NFL futures bet ties up your money for a long time.
An NFL futures bet is when you wager on a pro football event that occurs a little later in the year. The most popular NFL futures wager is betting on which team will win the Super Bowl, who will win the NFC and AFC Championship, and who will be awarded as the most valuable player.
Super Bowl Futures
Super Bowl betting is by far the most popular NFL future among football bettors. The second an NFL team is crowned as Champs, online sportsbooks open the next futures market, which stays open until another Super Bowl winner celebrates the following year. With Super Bowl odds, you can place futures bets at any time on the favorites to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
For example, let’s say a first-place team in September like Kansas City (+125) were the preseason favorites to win the Super Bowl, with Baltimore nipping at their heels at (+225). A $100 wager on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs would profit $125 if they were to win it all. You would get you original $100 back plus your winnings of $125.
A $100 wager on Lamar Jackson’s Ravens would profit $225 if they were to win Super Bowl 55. You would get your $100 back plus your winnings of $225. A one-win team like the New York Giants might be set at +30000, where a $100 wager would pay $30,000 as a long shot. Yes, their odds to win are essentially slim-to-none, but how sweet would that payout be?!
Use our odds calculator to see how much you would win, based on the odds and amount bet. We have American odds, decimal and fractional odds, and implied odds as well.
Division And Conference Futures
Another very common NFL futures wager is division and conference betting. This is when football bettors wager on teams they think will win the AFC Championship and NFC Championship.
In order for these two football teams to advance to the Super Bowl, they have to first qualify for the playoffs and then win a couple of games. In order to win their respective conferences, teams need to get through wild-card weekend, the divisional round, as well as the American Football Conference Championship or National Football Conference Championship.
For the NFL division championship, you can wager on eight (8) different NFL division winners:
AFC Divisions
- • AFC East
- • AFC North
- • AFC South
- • AFC West
NFC Divisions
- • NFC East
- • NFC North
- • NFC South
- • NFC West
Seasonal And Performance Awards
This is where the NFL futures fun begins. You can wager on things like which player will win the National Football League MVP, which player will win defensive player of the year, who will win offensive and defensive rookie of the year, and most online sportsbooks will typically offer betting odds on Coach of the Year as well.
There are many other NFL futures categories like the number of touchdowns a particular player will score, whether a wideout’s receiving yards will be over/under a certain number, whether a running back will rush for over 1000 yards, team win totals, and let’s not forget about total sacks.
NFL Futures Line-Movement
While games officially don’t get underway until September, NFL futures odds shift with preseason performances, injuries, and NFL betting trends. If you see a futures line that you think is an absolute no-brainer, consider placing the wager before that bargain is gone.
Just remember that long-term success in NFL futures betting isn’t only about which team wins the next Super Bowl. It’s about hunting big rewards with as little investment as possible.