ExtremeRavens Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago Within an hour of blue and green confetti raining over the newly crowned Seattle Seahawks, sportsbooks everywhere raced to project which team might be next. To preface: Super Bowl odds created in early February rarely hold through the offseason. So expect some movement on these numbers. Seattle emerges as the way-too-early Super Bowl LXI favorite, according to the two major sportsbook sites. FanDuel projects the Seahawks at +750, just ahead of the Rams (+800), while DraftKings gave similar +950 odds to both Seattle and Los Angeles at the top of the pack. Those two duked it out in the NFC championship game and have good reason to believe they might be back. The Ravens are next in line. Baltimore was a preseason Super Bowl favorite last year before unraveling early, crawling back then missing the playoffs altogether. Sportsbooks foresee redemption: FanDuel says the Ravens have 12-1 odds to win the Super Bowl (tied with Buffalo) in Inglewood, California, and DraftKings lists their odds at 13-1 (behind the Bills, tied with New England and Philadelphia). Of the six teams leading the pack, the Ravens (Jesse Minter) and Bills (Joe Brady) will enter 2026 with first-time coaches. Each returns centerpieces of a talented roster, so those in charge of manufacturing odds don’t see a new coach as much of a hurdle in their championship quest. Plus, Mike Vrabel led the Patriots to the big game in his first season, and Mike Macdonald won the whole thing in Year 2. According to ESPN research, if the current odds hold until August, the Seahawks and Rams would own the longest shot for a preseason favorite since at least 1977. At the start of this past season, the Seahawks and Patriots were both long shots to play football in February. Seattle had 60-1 odds and the Patriots were 80-1 to win it all, according to DraftKings. John Harbaugh’s Giants are right in that ballpark. As are the Washington Commanders and Pittsburgh Steelers. These numbers are fun now because football is a year-round sport, but the months of Sundays without games can feel empty. So sportsbooks keep fans thinking about what’s next. The primary source of toggling odds begins next month, when free agency begins. The NFL free agency window opens at 4 p.m. on March 11. If the Ravens play their cards right and general manager Eric DeCosta fulfills his promise to be an active participant, they could leapfrog to the top of the Super Bowl odds board. It’s an all-important time to set the tone for a Super Bowl contender. Last year, the Patriots and Seahawks were among the biggest spenders in free agency. The Ravens finished in the bottom two. And yet, as several Ravens — and fans — reminded themselves throughout this most recent, trying season, as long as Lamar Jackson is their quarterback, they’ll always have a chance. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. Sam appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article Quote
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