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DraftKings Sportsbook has gone ahead and released the odds to win each NFL division in 2020. With free agency and the draft still to come, betting on division winners now gives us some room to potentially find some value. With a combination of looking back at 2019, and projecting for 2020, here’s where the potential value lies in the NFC West for the upcoming season.
San Francisco 49ers (+105)
The 49ers came so close to being Super Bowl champions before the Kansas City Chiefs once again came from behind to win it all. The 49ers have the talent to get back there again and are the favorites to win the NFC West going into the 2020 season. San Francisco finished 13-3 last season to win the division, two games ahead of the Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers finished 5-1 in divisional games.
The 49ers proved running the ball and playing defense can still work in the pass-happy NFL. While it makes sense for San Francisco to be the favorites to win the division, this is expected to be a competitive division once again in 2020. Three of the four teams finished over .500 in the NFC West, and teams tend to struggle the year after the Super Bowl. At +105, go spend your money elsewhere.
Seattle Seahawks (+235)
The Seahawks finished the 2019-20 season with an 11-5 overall record in the regular season including 3-3 against NFC West opponents. In the playoffs, they beat the Philadelphia Eagles on the road and lost in the divisional round against the Green Bay Packers.
Russell Wilson is among the top players in the entire NFL, and it’s a struggle betting against him. He said he would like to see the offense use a more uptempo approach heading into the 2020 season, so we’ll see if he can get his way. This is a very talented team, I like the +235 value more than any team in the NFC West by a long shot and maybe the entire NFL.
Los Angeles Rams (+270)
Sean McVay was the talk of the town after the 2018-19 NFL season, but the Rams found themselves out of the playoffs this winter. They finished 9-7 overall, just one game out of a Wild Card spot. The Rams also placed third in the division and went 3-3 against NFC West teams.
NFL fans largely expected the Rams to be back in contention after a spectacular previous season, but it just didn’t work out as the Super Bowl hangover returns. It isn’t the worst value at +270, but I’m not too confident we see the Rams finish ahead of Seattle and San Francisco by the end of the 2020 season.
Arizona Cardinals (+2000)
The Cardinals finished the 2019 regular season 5-10-1 including 1-5 against NFC West opponents. Led by AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Kyler Murray, the Cardinals’ quarterback had an up-and-down rookie season. He threw for 3,722 yards with 20 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions in year one.
Right now, there just isn’t a whole lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball for the Cardinals outside of Murray, and the defense was among the worst in the league last season. Arizona is tied for the worst odds in the NFL to win its division at +2000. They say anything is possible, but the Cardinals taking the NFC West crown is pretty dang close to impossible.
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