NFL Odds: Odds Shorten On Patriots’ Jarrett Stidham Starting Week One

Cam Newton was installed as the oddsmakers’ favorite to be the New England Patriots No. 1 quarterback as soon as he signed, but now they’re not so sure.

The day after Newton signed, his odds of being the Patriots signal caller against the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 13 were set at -500. Put simply, this suggested an implied chance of 83.33 percent while Jarett Stidham, by comparison, had odds of +450 (18.18 percent).

However, there are plenty of fans, pundits, analysts and experts who rate the young Stidham extremely high, and it seems that their opinions have affected oddsmakers in recent weeks.

In the past seven days, the odds have shifted slightly and Newton — albeit still heavy favorite — now sits at -333 (76.92 percent) while Stidham has come in to +333 (23.09 percent).

Also in the past week, there has been a slight increase in the number of wagers placed on Stidham starting the Patriots opener — 31 percent of bets have backed this outcome, compared to just 11 percent in the previous week.

Once preseason is underway and the season looms closer, activity on these markets will increase. And while Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is a notoriously hard man to read, any indication from him on who will be the Week 1 starter will be jumped on by sports bettors.

Pete Watt writes about the betting markets for OddsChecker.

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