Vegas sportsbook shows little love for Brady-less Patriots in odds for 2020 NFL season
Tom Brady donning the very foreign colors of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t be the only puzzling thing we see once the 2020-21 NFL season starts ... if, of course, we have a season to watch come the fall.
On Thursday, Caesars Sportsbook released the Super Bowl odds and over/unders for all 32 NFL teams and there are more than a few differentials that stand out from years past.
Start with the AFC East, a division that has been primarily reigned over by Brady and head coach Bill Belichick. During the offseason, Brady, a six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, made the stunning announcement that he was taking his talents to Tampa Bay, leaving the NFL team that drafted him with the 199th pick in 2000.
That considered, the Pats have an over/under of 8.5 wins (their lowest in 17 years) and a +140 when it comes to nabbing the AFC East. They are 20-1 to win the/ Super Bowl.
This comes as no shock to sports analysts and oddsmakers who express that a shift is destined to happen in New England with their former fearless leader now sipping Pina coladas in Derek Jeter’s $100,000-a-month Tampa mansion.
“My raw number on the Patriots is less than eight (wins),” Jeff Davis, head oddsmaker at Caesars, tells ESPN. “Outside of the secondary, which is one of the best in the league, the rest of their roster I think is one of the worst in the NFL.”
It’s clear that oddmakers have no faith that Belichick will have the sorcerers’ mindset to transform a Brady-less offense — even if the Pats land a reliable quarterback in the 2020 draft.
“I’m very much struggling to find this team being a 10-win team,” Davis said. “I’m just not buying this team at all. This team will show just how good Belichick and his staff are, compared to some of the other staffs. This might be the year that reality sets in with New England.”
As for Brady’s newest division?
Caesars still prefers Drew Brees and his New Orleans Saints to take the NFC South (14-1 with over/under at 10.5) over the Bucs, who opened with a win total of 9 and are favored to make it to the postseason.
Brees, who will be 44 years old when his contract with the Saints is up in 2023 (with ‘22 and ‘23 being void years), most likely is looking to make this upcoming season a Super Bowl or bust year in order to go out with a bang.
These odds could also revolve around the Saints picking a quarterback in the first round of the draft. Some mock drafts have Utah State quarterback Jordan Love going to New Orleans with the No. 24 overall pick.
Overall, it is the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (-1800) and Baltimore Ravens (-1100) who are biggest favorites to reach the postseason.
“We have the Ravens and the Chiefs heads and shoulders above everyone else right now,” Davis says.
Odds for all 32 NFL teams can be viewed here.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Vegas sportsbook shows little love for Brady-less Patriots in odds for 2020 NFL season."