Odds Show That Travon Walker Now Favored To Be Picked First

A power struggle within the Jacksonville Jaguars has caused a surprising player to become the betting favorite to be the first overall pick.
Regardless of who is picked first, the 2022 NFL Draft’s first overall pick will have the shortest odds since at least 2018.

LAS VEGAS – With just days to go, sportsbooks just announced a brand new betting favorite to be the first overall pick in the draft, Travon Walker.

Odds To Be The First Pick In The 2022 NFL Draft

Travon Walker -220
Aidan Hutchinson +250
Ikem Ekwonu +400
Evan Neal +2500
Kayvon Thibodeaux +5000

Division Within Jaguars Front Office Reason For Odds Change

According to Tony Pauline, the reason for the odds change is most likely based on a divide between the Jacksonville Jaguar’s General Manager Trent Baalke who prefers Travon Walker and the Jags owner Shad Khan who’s preference is Aidan Hutchinson.

With the division between the owner and the General Manager it may actually be a surprise that NFL betting odds suggest the owner losing out on the player he covets.

What makes the odds shift even more surprising is that Travon Walker has seemingly come out of nowhere to become the betting favorite to be the first overall pick. A look back at prior first pick odds indicates that odds on him to be the first pick weren’t even available two months ago.

First Overall Pick Odds

Player	April 26th	March 10th	February 24th	January 31st
Travon Walker	-220	2267	N/A	N/A
Aidan Hutchinson	250	-243	192	148
Ikem Ekwonu	400	650	717	550
Evan Neal	2500	550	138	217
Kayvon Thibodeaux	5000	1500	633	213

The Historic Chaos Of Betting On The 2022 NFL Draft

The 2022 NFL Draft is just two days away, but it is generating a level of chaos for legal online sportsbooks not seen since at least the 2018 NFL Draft.

Odds Of Each First Overall Pick Since 2018

Going back through the 2013 NFL Draft only twice has an underdog been picked with the first pick. Those upset picks were Baker Mayfield (+1000 odds) in 2018 and Eric Fischer (+150 odds) in 2013.It appears that Aidan Hutchinson and Ikem Ekwonu have the best odds to join that group on Thursday Night.

Draft Year	Team	Player	Odds To Be Picked First
2021	Jacksonville Jaguars	Trevor Lawrence	-50000
2020	Cincinnati Bengals	Joe Burrow	-100000
2019	Arizona Cardinals	Kyler Murray	-500
2018	Cleveland Browns	Baker Mayfield	+1000

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Brett Crown

Brett is a passionate sports writer who majored in Sport Management at Florida State University. He combines his knowledge of stats with his understanding of game theory to find the best values when sports betting. Brett enjoys golfing, playing cornhole, and hanging out by the pool when he’s not locked in watching games.