This year’s NFL Draft will take place from Thursday, April 23 with the opening round right through the final four of seven rounds on Saturday afternoon. Rounds 2 & 3 will be held on Friday night. Given the lack of live sports right now, most of the online sportsbooks taking action on the draft have expanded their board with a myriad of betting options.
With so many draft props to choose from, anyone betting this event should create a strategy to earn the biggest return on investment. Despite all the draft gurus in the world like Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay, the NFL draft is not an exact science. More than a few of the 32 NFL teams will not know which player they are going to select until they are actually on the clock.
Draft experts can be a useful starting point. Yet, they should only be used as a reference and not as a means to place actual bets. What you are looking for in any collection of mock drafts is some sort of consensus. If 10 different mock drafts have the New York Giants selecting a defensive player with the fourth overall pick, then that could be a good way to go in that particular drat prop.
Unless a player is ranked first or second at their position, betting the OVER/UNDER on their actual draft position can be tough to do. You will not even find betting odds for former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow going first overall to the Cincinnati Bengals. They desperately need a quarterback and he is clearly the cream of this year’s crop.
If you are going to bet player position props, look for the low-hanging fruit. This year’s class is extremely deep at wide receiver and relatively thin at running back. Betting that wide receiver CeeDee Lamb goes in the first 12 picks offers some solid value. Betting the UNDER on 1.5 running back coming off the board in the opening round is also a high-value play.
The most popular skill position in any draft is still quarterback. After Burrow, former Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovaiola is the next best prospect in many NFL expert’s eyes. Yet, former Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert has better odds (-145) to come off the board next. You might want to stay away from that prop and bet the OVER that four or more quarterbacks are taken in the first round.
Fourth on the list is Jordan Love from Utah State and there is a very good chance that at least one NFL team will make a reach at quarterback by selecting him inside the first 32 picks.
Given the overall depth of this year’s prop list, you really need to take the time to thoroughly go through the options at your favorite online book. The best betting option is to check out the betting board at two or three different online books.
Many of the props are similar in theme but still worded differently to effect the actual odds. Instead of betting on which player is drafted first among a group of three to four names. Focus in on just one player to bet the OVER/UNDER of their particular draft position.
Most of all, have fun. This could be the biggest sports betting event on the board in the next few months.
