The oddsmakers in Las Vegas definitely took notice this week when the New England Patriots decided to add Cam Newton. The bookies were busy on Sunday and that's because they had to change nearly every set of odds relating to the Patriots and Newton.
From MVP odds to Super Bowl odds to conference title odds to divisional odds to the over/under, Newton's decision to head to New England had a dramatic impact in Vegas, according to our friends at William Hill Sports Book.
First, let's start with the 2020 MVP odds. Before Sunday, Newton's MVP odds were sitting at 100-to-1. To put that in perspective, those are the same odds that Dalvin Cook, Drew Lock and Daniel Jones have to win the award. Getting Newton at the same odds as Lock or Jones seems like a steal, and one lucky bettor actually put some money down over the weekend at those odds. According to William Hill, a gambler in Nevada placed a $500 bet on Newton to win MVP, which means he'll take home tidy $50,000 profit if the 2015 MVP can win the award again.
After signing with the Patriots, Newton's MVP odds skyrocketed all the way to 40-to-1, tying him with Matt Ryan and Baker Mayfield as the players with the 16th best odds. From a percentage standpoint, Newton's chances more than doubled. Before the signing, he had a 1% chance of winning MVP. Now that he's with the Patriots, those odds have jumped up to 2.4%. The player with the best MVP odds right now is Patrick Mahomes, who's listed at 9-to-2 (18.2% chance to win).
As for Super Bowl odds, it's not often that a team sees a huge jump in June, but that's exactly what happened for the Patriots. Before adding Newton, the Patriots had a 25-to-1 chance of winning the Super Bowl, which was tied with the Steelers, Bills, Colts and Chargers. With Newton on the roster, the Patriots Super Bowl odds jumped to 18-to-1, which is tied with the Eagles, Seahawks and Packers, three teams that all made the playoffs last year.
In the AFC, the Patriots odds improved from 10-to-1 to 8-to-1 to win the conference.
One thing that didn't change very much was New England's odds of winning the division. Despite the addition of Newton, the Bills are still viewed as the favorites in Vegas at +125 (Bet $100 to win $125). As for the Patriots, their odds did slightly improve, going from +150 to +140.
On the over/under end, it's going to be slightly more difficult to make money on that bet. Although the Patriots number stayed the same at nine, you won't make as much money if you make an over bet and win. Before adding Newton, betting the over was +130, but now it's -140. Under the old odds, a $100 bet would have won you $130, but now, a $100 bet will only pay out $71.43 in profit.
Newton also had a dramatic effect on the odds for comeback player of the year, and you can read more about that by clicking here.
