Early NFL Futures: Best Bets to Win the NFC (2021)
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are reigning champions after winning Super Bowl LV, but it’s never too early to start looking at who can unseat them atop the NFC.
It’s hard to pick anyone but Tampa right now to win the NFC after their dominant run to a championship. And while Tom Brady and Bruce Arians will both be back for the title defense, the Buccaneers probably won’t look exactly the same in 2021.
Tampa Bay enters the offseason with $28 million in cap space, but they’ll have some tough choices on how to spend it. Key players such as Chris Godwin, Shaq Barrett, Lavonte David, Rob Gronkowski, Leonard Fournette, Antonio Brown, and Ndamukong Suh will all be free agents this offseason.
The Buccaneers and Packers both deserve to be co-favorites to win the NFC. However, their +450 odds don’t give me enough value to take them.
Instead, here are two teams I’d make a wager on right now to win the NFC.
Odds courtesy DraftKings Sportsbook
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San Francisco 49ers +650
People might forget the 49ers are a year removed from a Super Bowl appearance. The injury bug ate San Francisco alive in 2020, as key players like Nick Bosa, Richard Sherman, George Kittle, and Jimmy Garoppolo all missed significant time with injuries.
But there’s a reason the Niners have the fourth-best odds to win the NFC despite going 6-10 last year. This roster is still loaded with talent, and the defense should return to elite status if everyone gets healthy.
The other reason why I like San Francisco is the potential for a big splash coming at quarterback. Garoppolo isn’t a bad player, but he clearly has limitations. It wouldn’t stun me if the 49ers went all-in and acquired Deshaun Watson from Houston.
If that happens, San Francisco would immediately become a co-favorite to win the conference, if not the outright favorite. If not, the 49ers still have the 12th overall pick and a little bit of cap space to make upgrades across the roster.
The 49ers will be a great team to buy low and are my favorite bet to win the NFC.
Place your bet for San Francisco >>
Carolina Panthers +2000
The Panthers could have something cooking. I love their coaching staff headlined by Matt Rhule and upstart offensive coordinator Joe Brady. The offense has plenty of dynamic pieces in Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, and Robby Anderson. The defense got better as the year went on and could become an above-average unit with some tweaks.
Carolina really needs a quarterback, and I expect the Panthers to be aggressive in acquiring one via free agency or the draft. Teddy Bridgewater is fine. He’ll win you games. But he can’t take a team to the next level, as evidenced by his pedestrian 15 touchdown passes.
The Panthers are another dark horse landing spot for Deshaun Watson. If that doesn’t work out, they’ll have the eighth overall pick to potentially land someone like Trey Lance or Justin Fields.
Eight of Carolina’s 11 losses were one-score affairs, so it’s not like they weren’t a competitive team. McCaffrey should be back healthy, and the Panthers are a dynamic quarterback away from being a playoff contender.
At 20/1, the Panthers are a good long shot to take a flyer on.
Place your bet for Carolina >>
Are the Los Angeles Rams worth a bet at +600?
Lastly, I wanted to discuss the Rams, who made the biggest move of the offseason thus far by trading for Matthew Stafford. That trade was confirmation that the Rams are all-in on the next couple of seasons. All I’m saying is it better work.
Stafford is definitely an upgrade over Jared Goff, as he presents greater arm talent and the threat to expand the pocket with his legs. These traits give Sean McVay more options at his disposal after his passing game because mostly horizontal last season. There won’t be a return to The Greatest Show on Turf Part II, but L.A.’s offense should be a little closer to what we saw in 2018 and 2019.
However, this team definitely has flaws, as we saw in their Divisional Round loss to the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey are tremendous players, but Los Angeles’ defense lacks much talent behind him. The departure of ex-defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to the Chargers will hurt. And while the offensive line improved in 2020, it’s still not good enough to dominate the trenches.
Even worse, I expect all of these flaws to persist in 2021. The Rams are $26 million over the salary cap and currently only have second, sixth, and seventh-round picks in the 2021 draft.
At +600, I’d pass on the Rams right now. I need to see how they navigate their salary cap issues and handle free agency to get a clearer sense of what this team looks like. I get it, that’s the case for every team in the NFL, but it’s especially true for the Rams given their odds.
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Matt Barbato is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Matt, check out his archive and follow him @RealMattBarbato.