A Numbers Game: Betting on Jersey Numbers for the Big Game

The Super Bowl brings out all sorts of strange props for you too play. I suppose bookmakers could do this with any game if they really wanted to, but with this one they know they are going to get a ton of action on the game no matter what. Some of these props are just for the casual bettor and others are probably just so there is something to discuss for media. In a lot of cases, they do limit the maximum you can bet on it, but part of this is for fun - which is what I think gambling should be viewed as, a fun thing to do.

Here, we are going to talk about something that is nice and easy. Literally, no one needs to struggle with this one. You don't even need to understand the concept of football for most of these, basically, all you need is a place where sports betting is available (which is becoming more and more legal across the nation). So here we go: the line for combined jersey numbers of all touchdown scorers is 160.5. Now, this just simply means if player A wearing jersey number 25 and player B wearing jersey number 30 are the only two touchdown scorers in the game the combined number is 50. So, let's take a look at who we can expect to score. Travis Kelce is one of the most likely candidates - he has number 87, so that puts us over halfway there. The wide receivers for Kansas City are fairly low - Isiah Pacheco wears number 10 and Jerick McKinnon wears number 1. So we aren't making much progress to the over. However, you're looking at somewhere around 100 from Kansas City if the game goes how you'd expect.

What about the Eagles side? In my opinion, Miles Sanders wears number 26, and I do expect him to score a touchdown. Jalen Hurts won't be contributing much to this as he is number 1. The wide receivers for the Eagles are also fairly low for jerseys. AJ Brown is 11, DeVonta Smith is 6, so we aren't talking about more than 20 towards the total from them. either. Now, the one concern I really have here is that Dallas Goedert scores a touchdown. If he scores, and Kelce scores, then we've hit the over with just those two. Outside of that, I do think there is a struggle to get to over 160. Here is how I'll be playing this one: I'm taking the under 160.5 (I should mention if Kelce scores two touchdowns, I believe the total is still 87, as in his jersey doesn't get counted twice, but check your books rules for any clarification BEFORE placing your bet). Now, one opportunity for potential hedging is to take Goedert to score an anytime touchdown which is +150. So if he's the reason for the over, you make a bit of profit. If he doesn't score, you're potentially just breaking even.

I've already written an article on the first touchdown scorer of the game and touchdown props overall. This is slightly different as an opportunity - the jersey number of the first touchdown scorer over or under 11.5. We've mentioned receivers are low. Here are the people that are eligible for the under on the jersey number: Hurts (1), McKinnon (1), Smith (6), Smith-Shuster (9), Pacheco (10), AJ Brown (11), Valdes-Scantling (11). Now, that's not a comprehensive list, there are others but those are the ones I think have a real chance. That's excluding Travis Kelce, the best of options for the Chiefs to score the first touchdown. As far as the over 11.5 options: Mahomes (15), Sanders (26), Kelce (87), Goedert (88). Again, there are a lot of others that could score, but those are the main ones I'm looking at. So, seven under, four over. But, I really think you have the two best options are Sanders and Kelce and both are over. I'll go over 11.5 for the first touchdown scorer jersey number.

Keep in mind, these are bets I do for fun, they aren't something I'm looking at as closely as the actual game or some of the other ones. Enjoy it and maybe even make a game out of these for your Super Bowl party.

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on Twitter: @futureprez2024