Football prop bets are extremely popular among recreational bettors. The reason is that these types of bets are fun. That makes them a favorite of football fans, who use them to enhance the viewers’ experience.
For instance, if you’re a fan of Dallas Cowboys, but watching their regular season games is not that entertaining (as Cowboys win all the time!), you can spice things up with a football prop bet. You can bet that Cowboys will score every single field goal kick in their next game, for example.
This kind of bet is guaranteed to bring a lot of fun your way. However, increased fun is not the only advantage of football prop bets. These sorts of bets can also be very profitable. Of course, this is only true if you know how to pick the one with a big money-making potential.
If you don’t know how to pick the best football proposition bet, worry not because we can help. You’re at the right place if you want to learn everything about these sorts of wagers.
Football Prop Betting Explained
The first question is: what are football prop bets? Prop bet stands for ‘proposition bet’ suggesting that these sorts of bets are meant to be proposed. Instead of finding them in the betting offer of your sportsbook, you might need to make a proposition to your bookie.
Of course, it’s not always like that. Some sportsbooks have a fast offer of football proposition bets in their offer.
Usually, the bets that fall into this category are those that don’t have too much to do with what’s going on inside the stadium. Note the word ‘usually’ – it’s important because football prop bets can be focused on literally anything.
This is why there isn’t a strict football prop bet definition. Instead, the best way to explain them is by giving some examples. That’s exactly what we are going to do now!
Best Football Prop Bets
The charm of football prop bets is that they let you bet on anything you like. Still, generally speaking, all of these bets can be grouped into several different categories. Football proposition bets focused on touchdowns are among the most popular ones.
Touchdown Bets
If a sportsbook deals with football props, you can be sure you will find some touchdown-focused wagers available. Some types of bets you can expect to find include the following:
- Longest touchdown of the game Over/Under 44.5 yards
- Shortest touchdown of game Over/Under 1.5 yards
- What will happen first: touchdown or sack?
- Touchdown to be the first score of the game?
- 1-10 to be the jersey number of the first player to score a touchdown?
- Total touchdowns by both teams Over/Under 7.5
- Will there be a defensive touchdown?
The football props in the list above are all focused on the performances of the team(s). However, you can also bet on touchdown props related to players, e.g. Patrick Mahomes passing touchdowns in the game Over/Under 3.5.
Rushing Yards Bets
Another very popular category of football props is rushing yards bets. You can bet on which team will make more rushing yards in the game, whether the total number of yards will be Over/Under than a specific margin, and so on.
You can also bet on rushing yards by individual players. These bets usually come in the form of Over/Under. This means that your chance of hitting the winner is practically 50%. That said, the odds on these sorts of bets should be around -110.
Safety Scored
If you’re looking for more attractive betting odds, focusing on football props that aren’t very likely to happen might be a better solution. Of course, this is only true if you choose the right time when to put your money on them.
One such prop bet is: Will a Safety be Scored in the Game? Depending on which game you’re betting on, the odds for this prop can be as high as +8000.
To understand why the odds for safety bets are so high, you need to understand what safety actually is. By definition, a safety is a play rewarded by 2 points. It can happen in two scenarios. The first one is when a ball carrier gets tackled by the opponents in his own end zone. The second scenario is when the offense commits a foul in their end zone.
Football vs Other Sports
Thanks to prop bets, you can mix football with other sports. You can bet on whether the number of points in a football game will be Over/Under the number of points scored by a certain basketball player. Sounds strange? Here’s an example you might come across with at online sportsbooks:
Los Angeles Rams to score fewer points against New York Giants than James Harden in Houston Rockets vs Chicago Bulls.
You can find matchups like these at many sportsbooks. These bets aren’t just focused on football vs basketball but can put all sorts of sports in the mixture.
NFL Prop Bets
The NFL is, by far, the most popular football competition in the world. This is why it’s not surprising that a big majority of football props are based around NFL events.
Although many props star NFL games from the regular season, it’s Super Bowl that really stands out. You can think of Super Bowl as the Mecca for football prop bets.
Super Bowl Prop Bets
The best period of the year for prop bet lovers is the Super Bowl weekend. In order to allure the players, many online sportsbooks will decide to come up with some interesting prop bets. And we mean really interesting!
Which team will win the coin toss?
Your chance is 50/50 and the odds are usually around -110. As this is completely random, you can’t predict the outcome of the coin toss in the next Super Bowl. Or, can you? Judging by the experience from the past tails happen more often, with an all-time lead of 29-25.
What color was the Gatorade in Super Bowl 2020?
According to Rolling Stone, the Super Bowl Gatorade Shower became a tradition in 1984. That’s when New York Giants players poured ice-cold Gatorade over the head of their coach Bill Parcells after winning Super Bowl XXI.
It immediately became a tradition that’s still ongoing. What’s changed over the years is the color of the drink. Each Super Bowl, a different color is used. So far, we’ve seen Gatorade in blue, yellow, purple, orange, and even colorless.
In 2020, we saw the Chiefs boss Andy Reid being showered by his players in orange after winning Super Bowl LIV.
How many Tweets will US President make during Super Bowl?
US Presidents seem to love football. They also love using Twitter to share their thoughts. Do you think President is going to get busy tweeting during the next Super Bowl?
Who will sing the national anthem in the next Super Bowl?
Although this bet could very well be classified as a football future bet, it also belongs to the props category. In the past, we’ve seen some real superstars singing, e.g. Beyoncé, the anthem during the half time show. Can you guess who’s going to sing it the next year?
Will a player solicit a prostitute after Super Bowl?
Believe it or not, this was one of the Super Bowl prop bets offered by an offshore sportsbook last year. Spoiler alert: no one was caught soliciting a prostitute. However, if you think someone might get caught using the services of a sex worker during the next Super Bowl weekend, you will be able to bet on it!
Exotic NFL Bets
Exotic bets are those that can’t be classified differently. Those can be based on the entire NFL season or on a single match. For example, you can bet on whether Drew Breese will kneel down during the anthem.
These bets can also be focused on something that’s not related to the game. For example, you can bet whether Patrick Mahomes is going to break up with his girlfriend Brittany Matthews by the end of the year.
NCAA College Football Prop Bets
NFL is the most attractive football competition from the fans’ point of view. The same goes for bettors and sportsbooks, which tend to cover a large number of NFL prop bets. The situation is very different when it comes to NCAA college football prop bets.
NCAAF props aren’t that easy to find. Still, this doesn’t mean there aren’t any bookmakers that have these sorts of bets in the offer. There are some that do release NCAAF props from time to time.
So, when’s the best time to look for NCAAF prop bets? During the college bowl season!
There are six major bowls in college football. They’re nicknamed the New Year’s Six, which tells a lot about when to expect them.
From mid-December to late January, you can find various NCAAF props based around the New Year’s Six bowls. What we’re talking about are the following:
- Rose Bowl Prop Bets
- Sugar Bowl Prop Bets
- Orange Bowl Prop Bets
- Cotton Bowl Prop Bets
- Fiesta Bowl Prop Bets
- Peach Bowl Prop Bets
In addition to these six bowls, there are literally dozens of other college bowls throughout the year. However, not all of them are covered by online bookmakers, especially when football props are concerned.
How to Make Football Prop Bets?
It’s easy to make a football prop bet if you can find it in the offer of your online bookmaker. If not, you will have to invest a little bit of time and energy.
What you need to do is pitch your idea to the bookies. If they like it, they’re going to come up with the odds for it.
If you don’t have any idea in your mind, you can always look for inspiration at the Fat Cat Bet website. Click the button Props and you will get ahold of the latest prop bet tips, predictions, and suggestions.