With the 2022 Super Bowl officially wrapping up and the Los Angeles Rams emerging victorious, we begin to set our sights on the upcoming NFL season. The 2023 odds are open and we’re ready to take a first look. Let’s see which teams are among the favorites and which longshots are worth a bet.
The Favorites
The Kansas City Chiefs are (+700) already being mentioned as Super Bowl favorites for the next season. With Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce all sticking around on offense, there are few teams that can beat them. We have also seen them play in the AFC Championship for four straight years now. The only question for them during the offseason is if they can retain their starting free safety, Tyrann Mathieu. Losing him would hurt them quite a bit.
The Buffalo Bills (+750) are right behind the Chiefs here. They were 13 seconds away from beating the Chiefs in the Divisional Round and potentially marching into the Super Bowl. Josh Allen remains one of the best quarterbacks in the league with Stefon Diggs being a great partner in the pass game. Their defense was also ranked number one last season. They won’t even have many losses during the offseason, with Jerry Hughes, Mario Addison likely being the only free agents that they might not be able to hold onto.
Finally, we come to the Los Angeles Rams (+1000). It’s hard not to include the Rams as favorites after seeing what they did this past season. However, there will almost certainly be a lot of roster turnover here. Von Miller, Odell Beckham Jr, Sony Michel and Andrew Whitworth are all expected to move away from the team in the upcoming season. Beckham being the only one that might be re-signed as Whitworth should be retiring. Plus, there has also been talk that Aaron Donald might retire now, which could have them teetering on the edge of being longshots. Still, they deserve their respect after a season like this.
The Longshots
The Tennessee Titans (+2500) were really close the last few years but just can’t seem to get over the edge. The trio of Ryan Tannehill, A.J. Brown and Derrick Henry are excellent, but they need to be more consistent on offense. Julio Jones was expected to change that but injuries threw them all off. They won’t lose many big-name players in free agency, though, their center Ben Jones could hurt them if he chooses to leave.
The San Francisco 49ers (+1400) are another team that are positioned in the longshot category right now. We just saw this team knock out two great teams in the postseason and make it into the NFC Championship with Jimmy Garoppolo leading the charge. With Garoppolo expected to be traded and Trey Lance going to be moving in, he could take the offense to another level. Watch out for Deebo Samuel and George Kittle with a new signal caller.
Finally, we come to the Cincinnati Bengals (+1100). This team had proved everybody wrong this year and were just a few minutes away from winning the Super Bowl. Joe Burrow is a franchise altering quarterback and this defense suddenly catapulted to the top of the rankings. They need to fix this offensive line though, otherwise they won’t do much. They do need to focus on resigning Jessie Bates, C.J. Uzomah and Larry Ogunjobi. These three were difference makers on the field.