99 Days Until Kickoff: A Betting Preview Of 2020 NFL Season

• The NFL expects to begin on schedule for their 2020-2021 season but fans in the stadiums are still questionable at this point.
• Patrick Mahomes (+300) is the favorite to win the 2020 NFL MVP.
• Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs are favored to win the AFC (+300) and the Super Bowl (+600).
• The NFC is set to be won by the San Francisco 49ers (+525), New Orleans Saints (+550), or Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+550).

MIAMI – The NFL is determined to start their regular schedule on time despite setbacks in the offseason caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Beginning in late May, training facilities were given the go-ahead to reopen slowly. Up until then, all practices were occurring virtually to abide by social distancing rules.

Even with the reopening of practice facilities in some states, not all states are doing this as a couple of organizations want to reopen in phases. Making sure the safety of players’ health is of top priority, taking temperatures and other measures for COVID-19 testing are being done to keep everything safe.

June 26 will be the tell-all, as it holds major significance for the NFL. The teams have until June 26 to hold practices and the window is small, only being open from June 15-June 26.

After that, they’re out of luck. Beyond that date, athletes will need to train on their own until training camps officially begin a month later.

How COVID-19 Affects Betting Odds

All of this unknown territory could lead to some pretty massive upsets for legal sports bettors.

Teams will not have enough time to become a cohesive unit in time for the season’s start leading last year’s stats to be what bookkeepers base their odds on. They could very well make betting on the games more of a gamble when there is a lack of practice behind it.

Players need to develop strategies and chemistries together with their playbooks if any follow through is to be expected on the field. This chemistry happens during the offseason when new players and old players learn to work with one another, building on each other’s strengths.

The reigning champions Kansas City Chiefs (-9.5) are set to square off with the Houston Texans on September 10 at Arrowhead Stadium to start off the season.

While this spread may factor in the addition of fans in the stands and home-field advantage, there is still the uncertainty of if NFL fans will be in attendance. Is player and staff safety already enough of a task for the NFL to handle?

“Right now, today, we’re planning to have fans in the stadium,” said Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins.

Still, that uncertainty could affect many of the betting odds moving forward.

Teams like the New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, and Seattle Seahawks always boast home (or dome) field advantage. However, if the boisterous crews behind these teams is absent, whose advantage will it really be?

The AFC is set to be led by the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. With no other teams within a Mahomes’ hail mary on the odds board, betting on an underdog in the AFC could be quite favorable.

Bettors must keep in mind that the Chiefs and Ravens are the favorites for a reason though.

In a three-headed race at the top, the NFC is looking to be quite spread this year. Two teams from the NFC South hold the top three positions, while the NFC East hold the next two, and the NFC West hold the first and next.

In what is shaping up to be a battle of division giants, the NFC North could very well show representation in the Super Bowl with the longshot in Green Bay.

Quarterbacks power the scene for NFL MVP betting odds – to no surprise. The two previous winners hold the top spot at online sportsbooks.

Last year’s race was a showdown between Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson, until it wasn’t, but never-aging Tom Brady and young superstar Kyler Murray also are listed as the favorites to win the NFL MVP.

The Next 99 Days

A total of 16 team schedules are expected to begin on September 10.

The next 99 days will see whether or not the NFL can come up with the proper strategies to enforce protocols for their players, staff, and fans so that the season can resume as it always has.

Many factors are being put together with the common goal that the health of everyone remains intact.

Should these teams not be able to practice outside of the virtual world as they’ve already been doing, this will definitely be one of the craziest seasons of upsets that sports bettors and fans will ever see.

But as long as the NFL is sure they will be coming back with their regular schedules, sports enthusiasts can work with the other issues.

Fans will need to rely on their gut midway through the season should they see teams not performing as expected. Other than that, the entire nation is ready for that first kickoff on September 10.

News tags: Baltimore Ravens | Coronavirus | Dak Prescott | Kansas City Chiefs | Kyler Murray | Lamar Jackson | New Orleans Saints | NFL | Patrick Mahomes | Russell Wilson | San Francisco 49ers | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Tom Brady