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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.
There are about as many ways to bet NFL futures as there are ways for the Carolina Panthers to screw up an NFL Draft pick (which is saying something).
What follows is a look at multiple NFL futures options available at the best online betting sites, including historical trends and tips to help you make better wagers.
What’s an NFL Futures Bet?
The answer is actually right there in the name: It’s wagering on NFL-specific outcomes that won’t be decided until well into the future. We’re talking beyond Thanksgiving, and in many cases, not until the calendar flips to 2025.
NFL futures are particularly ideal for casual sports bettors who don’t have the time, interest or bankroll to partake in week-to-week wagering.
By placing a bet on things like the Super Bowl or whether certain teams will go “Over” or “Under” a predetermined win total, you can (theoretically) have bets that last the entire season.
Another advantage of NFL futures betting: When getting involved in markets such as the Super Bowl, season win totals and individual awards, bettors can wager a little for the opportunity to win a lot, especially if you use bonus bets from a sportsbook’s welcome offer.
For example, if you think the Minnesota Vikings are a contender—one that’s capable of winning the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history—you can make a preseason bet at potentially longer odds than once the season begins to unfold.
Why do sportsbooks offer these kinds of “long” odds? Because predicting season-long winners is hard.
When Can You Make an NFL 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.
An example of the latter: If a sportsbook takes a lopsided amount of money on a particular team or player, it will reduce the odds to make betting on the team or player less enticing. Conversely, if a sportsbook receives minimal action on a team or player, it will raise the odds in hopes of attracting bets.
Sometimes these odds shifts happen weekly, sometimes daily and sometimes every few hours. The goal when making NFL futures bets is to strike when the plus-odds are at their peak to maximize value. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done.
How Much Do You Have to Wager on NFL Futures?
As with all sports bets, you can risk as little as $1 on an NFL futures wager. Obviously, the more you bet, the more you stand to win. And the higher the odds, the larger the potential payout.
Hypothetical example: At FanDuel Sportsbook, Patrick Mahomes has the shortest odds to win the 2024-25 MVP at +650, while reigning MVP Lamar Jackson has +1000 odds.
If you bet $10 on Mahomes, you would earn $65 in profits if he wins the award. If you put $10 on Jackson to win, however, you’d earn $100 in profits if he takes home the hardware.
Generally speaking, you don’t want to tie up too much of your betting bankroll in futures since a) they usually have long odds, and b) they take longer to pay out.
Super Bowl 2025: Odds For Every Team
Here are the Super Bowl 59 odds for 2025 at FanDuel following the 2024 NFL Draft. Odds vary based on sportsbook.
- San Francisco 49ers: +550
- Kansas City Chiefs: +600
- Baltimore Ravens: +950
- Cincinnati Bengals: +1300
- Buffalo Bills: +1300
- Detroit Lions: +1300
- Philadelphia Eagles: +1400
- Dallas Cowboys: +1500
- Houston Texans: +1600
- Green Bay Packers: +1900
- Miami Dolphins: +2300
- Atlanta Falcons: +2400
- New York Jets: +2700
- Los Angeles Rams: +3200
- Cleveland Browns: +4000
- Chicago Bears: +4000
- Jacksonville Jaguars: +4500
- Los Angeles Chargers: +5000
- Pittsburgh Steelers: +5000
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: +5500
- Indianapolis Colts: +5500
- Seattle Seahawks: +7500
- New Orleans Saints: +8000
- Las Vegas Raiders: +8000
- Minnesota Vikings: +8000
- Arizona Cardinals: +10000
- New York Giants: +10000
- Tennessee Titans: +13000
- Denver Broncos: +15000
- Washington Commanders: +15000
- New England Patriots: +18000
- Carolina Panthers: +30000
Super Bowl Futures Explained
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.
Conversely, so-called 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.
Sportsbooks waste little time releasing odds for the Big Game, with new odds posted the day after the Super Bowl. These odds fluctuate throughout the offseason depending on free agency and the NFL Draft, then keep shifting throughout the season based on injuries, trades and 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).
Conference Championship Futures
Have a lot of confidence that a certain team will make the Super Bowl but not a lot of confidence it will be the last one standing? Then consider making a conference championship wager.
As you’d expect, the teams at the top and bottom of the AFC and NFC championship odds board mirror those at the top and bottom of the Super Bowl odds list.
Trends of note: No AFC South team has reached the Super Bowl since the 2009 Indianapolis Colts, and no NFC North team has done so since the 2010 Green Bay Packers. Also, at least one AFC West or NFC West squad has appeared in 11 of the last 13 Super Bowls.
Division Futures
Similar to conference championship and Super Bowl futures, bettors can take a stab at which teams will win their respective divisions.
According to oddsmakers, the AFC East projects to be the most competitive division heading into 2024. Three of the four teams have odds between +150 and +250 to finish first, indicating a crowded division that’s truly up for grabs.
Many online sportsbooks also offer bettors the opportunity to wager on teams to qualify for the postseason. Remember that 14 of the league’s 32 teams (43.8%) make the playoffs (seven in each conference), so the path to the playoffs is easier than it used to be before the postseason field was expanded in 2020.
Team Win Total Futures
Want to get the biggest bang for your NFL betting buck? Consider making some NFL season win total wagers. This futures bet is simple and the ideal alternative to betting game to game, week to week.
Here’s how it works. Prior to the season, every sportsbook projects a number of victories for all 32 teams, then opens it up to bettors to decide if they want to wager “Over” or “Under” that number.
The best teams—those at the top of the Super Bowl odds board—have the highest projected win totals, while the league’s presumed worst teams have the lowest.
Some betting sites take this exercise a step further, offering a vast range of win totals for each team, with a sliding scale of plus/minus odds based on the win total numbers.
Hypothetical example: say the Dallas Cowboys’ traditional win total at BetMGM for the upcoming season is 10.5, with odds of -150 for the Over and +120 for the Under. So, if you believed the Cowboys would win 11 or more games, you have to bet $150 to win $100. But if you predicted Dallas wins 10 or fewer, you could wager $100 to win $120.
But let’s say you’re relatively confident the Cowboys could exceed expectations. You can bet on Dallas to go Over 12.5 wins at +325 odds (under at -500 odds).
Think the Cowboys are in trouble for the upcoming season? You can bet Under 6.5 wins at +550 odds (Under is -1000).
Or, maybe you want to take a shot at “middling”—that is, trying to hit two different Dallas win-total wagers. For example, you could bet Over 9.5 wins at -165 odds and Under 11.5 wins at -225 odds. It’s risky (and potentially costly). But if the Cowboys finished with exactly 10 or 11 victories, you’d cash both bets.
Some sportsbooks also offer special win total markets like whether a team will win or lose all of its regular-season games. Both outcomes are unlikely, however, as nobody has gone 17-0 or 0-17 since the NFL expanded its regular season to 17 games in 2021.
Player Futures
U.S. online sportsbooks post odds on individual season-ending awards. Bettors can wager on everything from league MVP to NFL Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year to NFL Coach of the Year—and those bets can be placed throughout the year.
But that’s not all. Most books also take bets on season-long statistical results.
Want to bet on whether Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts will have the most touchdown passes or passing yards? Which running back will win the rushing title? Whether a wide receiver will go Over or Under a specific receiving yardage number?
All of that (and more) is available. When it comes to NFL futures betting, the list of options is longer than Tom Brady’s career.
