The NFL Postseason begins in less than two days, and we here at NBC Sports EDGE could not be more excited for playoff football. As the league turns the page to the final chapter of the 2021-22 season, bettors everywhere are beginning to survey the landscape among the 14 playoff teams as to which are contenders worth riding and which are pretenders worth fading. Which teams will catch lightning in a bottle and compete in Super Bowl LVI? Conference winner bets are up to the bettor to decide who has the best value, but using our Futures tool, we can gauge how said value has shifted over the entire season.
We’re confident our cutting-edge tools can help elevate your betting strategy to the next level. Loaded with features that can guide your playoff decisions across a variety of sports - featuring futures tracking, game predictions, current trends key numbers, live odds and more - we are confident that the latest edition of our premium betting tools is the finest we’ve ever produced.
Today, we take a look at how the Futures tracking tool can help contribute to a sharp strategy when locking in conference winner futures. The odds to win the AFC and NFC have fluctuated dramatically everywhere but at the top. By visualizing this data onto a graph, football enthusiasts can make their own inferences as to why a certain team’s odds have moved over a given period or why they don’t buy Green Bay and Kansas City despite being the favorites for almost the entire season. In a similar vein, backing a lower-seeded contender at longer odds might be a good call if you like their momentum at their current value heading into the playoffs. See how the Futures tool tracks odds movement over the course of the season:
AFC & NFC Conference Winner Futures Movement
Looking at the top four teams in each conference, it’s not hard to see how much the betting landscape of contenders has shifted dramatically from the preseason. The Bengals (+800) and the Cowboys (+500) rebounded from disappointing 2020 seasons to become two of the league’s most feared and complete teams in 2021, and they’re looking to crash the party this postseason. As the bright red line illustrates for the AFC, the Chiefs (+190) have had little resistance among oddsmakers as the conference’s top dog, even as they sit as the No. 2 seed. Interestingly, the Titans have overtaken the Bills as the AFC’s second-favorite team to go to the Super Bowl, as the sportsbooks are beginning to realize their resilience is no fluke and Derrick Henry is ready to roll.
If you’re looking for more value bets or fantasy insights across NBA, NHL, MLB or NFL, learn more here!
