Everything that happens in sports has additional context when viewed from a betting perspective. From season-changing injuries to record-setting moments and so much more, the news cycle will constantly and significantly affect the sports betting industry.
Our betting buzz file, with contributions from David Purdum, Doug Greenberg and others, aims to provide fans a look at the sports betting stories that are driving the conversation.
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Sept. 19: Warren eyes history as OROY co-favorite
Doug Greenberg: Just like his team as a whole, Indianapolis Colts TE Tyler Warren has gotten off to an excellent start this season, racking up 11 catches and 155 yards across his first two NFL games. That production, along with meager starts for several of the preseason favorites, has propelled Warren to the top of the Offensive Rookie of the Year odds board.
Warren is tied with Tampa Bay Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka for the best odds to win the award at +425, per ESPN BET. Preseason favorites, Las Vegas Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty and Tennessee Titans QB Cam Ward, have fallen to a tie right behind them at +500.
Ward, Jeanty and Egbuka being in the favorite conversation makes a lot of sense given quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers are, historically, the ones that win the award: The longest drought among those three positions belongs to RBs, who haven't seen one of their own win it since Saquon Barkley in 2018.
By contrast, a tight end winning Offensive Rookie of the Year is exceedingly rare: It has only happened once in NFL history and that was by Hall of Famer Mike Ditka back in 1961, before the Super Bowl era.
Further, Las Vegas Raiders TE Brock Bowers put up a historically great rookie season in 2024, leading the position in yards (1,194) and receptions (112), breaking Ditka's rookie tight end receiving yards record, and even setting the record for receptions by a rookie, regardless of position. Not only was that not enough to win Offensive Rookie of the Year over Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, it wasn't even close according to oddsmakers, as ESPN BET made him only a +900 underdog at his shortest odds.
So for Warren to be sporting a favorite's +425 for the award this early in the season likely says something about the competition he's facing this season, as well as how oddsmakers are trying to get ahead of his potential liability later on. For now, he has only the 12th-most bets (2.9%) and 11th-most handle (2.8%) at ESPN BET, which also notes that he's drawn the third-most tickets and money since the beginning of the season.
If Warren were to pull off the historic feat, he has a chance to make history in another way.
New York Giants LB Abdul Carter (+200) is still the favorite for Defensive Rookie of the Year after entering the season with the best odds. If both Penn State alumni were to win, it would be just the fourth time in NFL history that one school produced both Rookies of the Year in the same season, and the first time since 1997. Leaning into the storyline, ESPN BET posted a special market for Warren and Carter to both win the awards at +1500.
Sept. 15: Bengals' odds plummet after Burrow injury
Joe Burrow's injured toe transformed the Cincinnati Bengals into Super Bowl long shots and underdogs to even make the playoffs.
Burrow, the Bengals' star quarterback, will undergo surgery and miss a minimum of three months, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Monday Following the injury, the Bengals' Super Bowl odds moved from 20-1 to 75-1 at ESPN BET. Cincinnati went from -155 favorites to make the playoffs on Sunday to +210 underdogs to reach the postseason at the sportsbook.
Burrow, at 11-1, was among the favorites to win regular-season MVP and attracted more than double the amount of bets of any other player at ESPN BET. On Monday, Burrow was taken off the board as a betting option on the MVP. While the Bengals' futures odds took a big hit with Burrow's injury, Cincinnati remained only a small underdog in its Week 3 road game at Minnesota. The Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas had the Vikings listed as 1.5-point favorites in their early line on the game that was available last week. The point spread had ticked up to Vikings -3.5 Monday before dropping back to Minnesota -2.5 Monday afternoon, after reports that Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy was battling an ankle injury and could miss Sunday's game.
John Murray, vice president of the SuperBook, said the relatively small adjustment is mostly due to the quality of Cincinnati backup quarterback Jake Browning. "That speaks to the competency level of the backup," Murray said of the line adjustment. "If Browning doesn't play well today in relief of Burrow, you're most likely looking at a bigger adjustment." Browning threw for 242 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions, after replacing Burrow in the first half of the Bengals' 31-27 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars
Sept. 14: A popular bet to score, Derrick Henry held out of end zone
Building off a career year in 2024, and a great start to 2025 with 169 rushing yards and two touchdowns in Week 1's wild loss to the Buffalo Bills, Derrick Henry appeared to be a very good pick to get into the endzone during Week 2's divisional matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and lowly Cleveland Browns.
ESPN BET closed the superstar running back's anytime touchdown market with -250 odds (an implied probability of 71.4%) and public bettors were more than happy to back him, even at the shortest odds on the board for any player.
The sportsbook says Henry was easily the most-bet anytime touchdown scorer of the day, attracting 38% more wagers than the next closest player in the market, Saquon Barkley. BetMGM and DraftKings similarly report Henry as their largest attractor of ATD tickets. Hard Rock Bet says Henry ATD was more popular than the game's point spread and the second-most popular wager overall on the game with 20% of all bets, behind only Ravens moneyline.
So it was shocking to say the least when King Henry dropped a very rare dud performance on Sunday, racking up 23 yards on 11 carries and, most importantly, no touchdowns in Baltimore's easy 41-17 win over Cleveland.
Besides being a very popular selection for straight bets, Henry ATD was also a fixture of favorites parlays. Hard Rock Bet reports 12.5% of all parlays -- including NFL-only and mixed parlays -- included Henry to score a touchdown, while ESPN BET says that 30% of all same-game parlay users included the wager in their SGPs.
With the very short odds, many bettors opted for different methods of betting on Henry to score, which, of course, ended up not making a difference. All the major sportsbooks report Henry handily attracting the most first touchdown scorer bets, with DraftKings adding that Henry was also the most-bet player to score two touchdowns on Sunday. Henry first touchdown was also the 21st most-bet prop by total bets at ESPN BET on Sunday, one of only two such cases in the top 50.
Joey Feazel, head of football for Caesars Sportsbook, said Henry's off day was one of the few results that went the house's way and kept bettors from enjoying a second straight "huge" Sunday.
"In a day where favorites and overs dominated, the rare Henry off day was the only bright light for the book," Feazel said.
Odds and Ends
One week after unders began the NFL season strong by going 12-4, overs returned with a vengeance in Week 2, going 10-3 through the Sunday late afternoon games. During the 1 p.m. slate, overs went 8-1 in Week 2, almost a complete inverse of the 1-7 they went in the same timeslot a week prior. Three of BetMGM's most-bet totals of the week were overs that cashed, but the most-bet over of the week -- Bills-Jets o47.5 -- actually stayed under.
Favorites went 9-3 straight-up and 7-5 against the spread on Sunday.
"Overall, the combination of favorite wins and high-scoring outcomes made the morning slate a standout session for bettors," Feazel said. "The afternoon games were a push for bettors as the Eagles were popular, but the points didn't arrive. Bettors are 2-0 on the season for Sundays and continuing their tremendous form."
Nineteen entries into the Circa NFL Survivor contest failed to submit their picks ahead of the Week 2 deadline and were eliminated. The survivor contest, run by Las Vegas casino Circa, has a $1,000 buy-in and an $18.7 million prize pool.
The most-popular NFL parlay leg Sunday at Hard Rock Bet was the Dallas Cowboys money-line (-250). In a wild, back-and-forth NFC East battle, the Cowboys got a 64-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey to force overtime and then a 46-yard game-winner from Aubrey to pull out a 40-37 victory over the Giants.
"Sunday was a little disappointing. We thought we had a big win in the morning with the Giants ... and ended up losing that one in overtime," John Murray, vice president of the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said. "That would have been huge for us in terms of knocking out parlays and money line teasers. We had a couple highlights. Seattle winning was a great result here. But ultimately having the Cowboys, Rams, Ravens and Cardinals all win outright combined with so many games going over made it a tough day for us to hold."
Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow left Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars will a toe injury and is expected to miss some time. The Bengals face the Minnesota Vikings next week. The SuperBook had the Vikings listed as 1.5-point favorites over the Bengals in their early looks but moved the number to -4.5 after Burrow's injury.
"We could also potentially make an adjustment based on how Minnesota does tonight but for now you're talking about a 3/3.5-point adjustment," John Murray, vice president of the SuperBook, said. "That speaks to the competency level of the backup [Jake Browning]. If Browning doesn't play well today in relief of Burrow, you're most likely looking at a bigger adjustment."
How rare was the Panthers (+6.5) cover against the Cardinals? The last team to cover a spread of +7 or less after trailing by at least 24 points was in Week 15 of 2015 when the Giants covered +4.5 against the Panthers (Dec. 20, 2015). Since that date, teams to trail by 24 points and not be at least 7.5-point underdogs were 0-305 ATS before today's cover.