-
David Purdum
The early betting action on the Super Bowl winner has been balanced enough between the favored Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles that, late in the week, some sportsbooks weren’t sure which team they will be rooting for Sunday. But they were certain of one thing: A big game from Saquon Barkley would be costly.
Approximately 20% of Super Bowl player prop wagers have been on Barkley at ESPN BET, more than any other player, and more money has been bet on the Eagles running back than on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce combined.
Fanatics Sportsbook reported that Barkley to score a touchdown was included in more Super Bowl parlays than any other wager, including the point spread and money line. He is also tops in bets in the touchdown scorer markets at BetMGM, including bets for Barkley to score four touchdowns at 66-1.
“No touchdown from Saquon would be massive for us,” Halvor Egeland, trading manager for BetMGM, told ESPN on Thursday. “If he does happen to score, limiting it to just one would be a help to us as well.”
Barkley is the most popular bet to win Super Bowl MVP at Caesars Sportsbook, despite historic odds for a running back. Barkley has the second-shortest odds (+250) to win MVP, behind only Mahomes (+120) at ESPN BET. Barkley is the first non-quarterback to have the shortest MVP odds on his team in the past two decades, according to ESPN Research. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is (+360).
The over/under on Barkley’s rushing yards was sitting at 110.5 on Friday at ESPN BET. He is the first player with a Super Bowl rushing prop over 100 yards in more than 15 years, according to ESPN Research. Barkley went over his rushing yards prop in 15 of 19 games this season.
The Chiefs have not allowed a running back to reach 100 rushing yards in a game this season.