The Hall of Fame Game on Thursday will showcase two of the league's most exciting young teams in the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears, both of whom have drawn heavy public betting action in the player award and team futures markets.
Across the sportsbook marketplace, C.J. Stroud (+850) is the consensus most popular betting option to win MVP by number of tickets, drawing 15% of the bets at ESPN BET, the highest for any player in the NFL. He has 12% of the handle at the book, trailing only two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes for highest in the league.
BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel also report Stroud as their tickets leader, with the latter two also reporting him as their money leader.
Stroud, along with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, trails only Mahomes (+500) in the odds, having moved all the way down from +1100 after Stefon Diggs was traded to the Texans from the Bills. The Diggs trade also triggered big line moves in Houston's team futures, as the team went from +2200 to +1600 to win the Super Bowl and from +1200 to +750 to win the AFC following the news, per ESPN BET.
As such, the Texans are a popular pick to win the conference among the betting public, racking up the most bets (15%) at FanDuel and the second most at BetMGM (10%), behind only the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. However, it's largely a collection of smaller wagers, as Houston has just 8% of the handle at ESPN BET, good for fifth most.
The betting interest in the Texans begins to wane at the prospect of the franchise winning its first-ever Super Bowl: ESPN BET said 5% of the handle is on Houston to win the big game -- less than six other teams. BetMGM and FanDuel have similarly seen limited action on Super Bowl futures for the Texans, taking the 11th- and eight-most tickets, respectively.
The Bears, meanwhile, will begin their experiment with a highly drafted quarterback, much like the Texans did last season. Chicago's rebuild means the team hasn't gotten much consideration in the Super Bowl or NFC Championship markets, but that doesn't mean the Bears aren't getting action elsewhere.
"The Hall of Fame game brings a lot of excitement with the first live action football of the season," ESPN BET senior vice president and head of sportsbook Patrick Jay told ESPN via email. "This year's game features two teams that are attracting significant interest from bettors, with both taking the lion's share of tickets and handle to win their divisions."
Indeed, at ESPN BET, the Bears (+300) have drawn 44% of the bets and 59% of the handle to win the NFC North, both easily the most in the division despite trailing the Detroit Lions (+140) and Green Bay Packers (+200) in the odds.
The centerpiece of Chicago's new offense, Caleb Williams, comes into the NFL with the usual lofty expectations of a highly touted No. 1 draft pick. That includes big favorite odds to win Offensive Rookie of the Year at +135, with No. 2 pick, Jayden Daniels, coming in second at +600.
Bettors agree with the sportsbooks' assessment of Williams, as they are backing him with 16% of the tickets and 35% of the money at ESPN BET, both the most of any player; DraftKings and Fanduel show similar splits and rankings.
There is at least one bettor out there who is very confident that the Bears can win it all: BetMGM said it took a $3,000 wager on Bears +4000 to win the Super Bowl, which would net $120,000 if successful.
With Stroud possibly sitting out of Thursday's Hall of Fame Game and Williams definitely sitting out, the Texans are -1.5 favorites over the Bears, per ESPN BET odds.