The 2024 NFL betting offseason has been busy as usual, with players changing teams throughout the league. That is going to continue over the next few weeks as teams try to get their rosters ready ahead of the NFL Draft in late April.
A few big news stories over the last few days could impact how the draft and the season unfold. The Chicago Bears sent their starting quarterback to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Kansas City Chiefs just made a big trade as well.
Here’s a look at those two stories, along with the way-too-early odds to win the MVP and Coach of the Year awards.
Fields to Pittsburgh
The Chicago Bears have the No, 1 overall pick in the draft at Detroit, and it’s widely assumed they’re taking a quarterback. USC’s Caleb Williams is considered the top prospect at the position, and it appears that’s where the Bears are going.
Pittsburgh redid its quarterback room with both Russell Wilson and Fields, sending last season’s sometime-starter Kenny Pickett across the state to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Steelers parted with a sixth-round draft pick to get Fields, but that pick could become a fourth-rounder should Fields play at least 51 percent of the offensive snaps with his new team.
This will be an interesting quarterback battle to watch, but it’s Wilson starting in the lead.
Sneed to Titans
The Kansas City Chiefs, fresh off another championship. were in a bit of a cap crunch ahead of the draft. They needed to clear some salary, but instead of cutting players, the club traded cornerback L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans.
Tennessee sent a third-round selection in 2025 to the Chiefs, the two teams also swapped seventh-round positions in this draft.
Sneed is expected to ink a new four-year pact with the Titans. It will make him one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the league. KC was looking to franchise-tag Sneed as the two sides were unable to reach a deal.
Sneed had the biggest play in the AFC title game. causing a goal-line fumble by the Baltimore Ravens’ Zay Flowers.
NFL Coach of the Year?
Since the NFL gives out a ton of awards at the end of each season, now might be a good time to start doing some homework. With the future odds on the table, who’s Coach of the Year?
Typically, this award is given to a coach who guides an underrated team to the playoffs.
Jim Harbaugh, back in the NFL after leading Michigan to a national title last season, is the current betting favorite at 7-1 (+700), according to NFL Coach of the Year odds.
Harbaugh is taking over a Los Angeles Charger team with a ton of skill, led by quarterback Justin Herbert. It wouldn’t stun to see the Bolts have a much better season in 2024.
Raheem Morris, taking over the Atlanta Falcons, and the Green Bay Packers’ Matt LaFleur are also in the mix as well, the second and third choices, respectively, Morris, with a new quarterback in Kirk Cousins, is priced at 9-1 (+900), while LaFleur is at 10-1 (+1000).
Betting on Morris would seem to be the play, with the Falcons poised to be as good as anyone in the NFC South. It’s nothing if not a moribund division.
Betting on NFL MVP
It’s no surprise that all the leading MVP candidates are quarterbacks. Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs is the current favorite at 7-1 (+700), which is logical since KC just won the Super Bowl and Mahomes is a two-time winner of this honor.
(It’s the Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers as current 6-1 [+600] co-choices to win the next title in New Orleans, as per Super Bowl LIX odds).
The Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals are next on the board, at 8-1 (+800) and 9-1 (+900), respectively. However, the supporting casts on those rosters figure to look quite different this time around, which may prove more challenging to both quarterbacks.
Mahomes is the best player in the league, and there is value in betting on him at +700.
As an aside, you’d have to go all the way down to Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers at 40-1 (+4000) to find the first non-quarterback on the board. He’s at No. 16, the same price as quarterback Jared Goff of the Detroit Lions.
