How far did Pats’ Super Bowl Odds Drop?
The NFL’s all-time winningest quarterback in Tom Brady is expected to join the league’s losingest franchise in the Bucs and now for the first time in 20 seasons, the Patriots are searching for a new signal-caller. How much were the Pats’ Super Bowl odds impacted?
New England opened with 10/1 odds to win the Super Bowl following the Chiefs’ victory over the 49ers in February’s NFL title matchup. Once it was apparent Brady could move on, the Pats’ Super Bowl odds dropped to 15/1 but now that he’s a Buc, New England’s 2021 SBLV odds plummeted to 30/1 according to oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com.
Brady’s six Super Bowl titles with the Patriots are the most by any player in NFL history and the Patriots’ six NFL titles as a team are tied with the Steelers for the most in NFL history. Brady also has passed for the most yards and touchdowns for a single team in NFL history.
This marks the end of perhaps the most successful player-coach duo in NFL history, as well. Brady and Bill Belichick made nine Super Bowl appearances in their 20 seasons together, which is more than any other team across NFL history. The duo also combined to register the most Super Bowl appearances and wins by a starting quarterback and head coach combination in NFL history. The Brady-Belichick combination has produced six Super Bowl wins, followed by the Terry Bradshaw-Chuck Noll combination of four.
So what will the Patriots do now at quarterback? The in-house options include Jarrett Stidham and Cody Kessler, with Stidham perhaps being the favorite of any internal or external option. He was the Patriots’ fourth-round pick (No. 133 overall) last season and could be the heir apparent to Brady. Kessler, meanwhile, is a journeyman former third-round pick of the Browns.
Jameis Winston, the former No. 1 overall pick with the Bucs, will now move on from Tampa as a free agent following the team’s decision to sign Brady. While he did throw 30 interceptions a year ago, he also produced 33 touchdown passes and is certainly not without talent. Andy Dalton, Derek Carr, Jacoby Brissett, Nick Foles and Nick Mullens could all be traded or cut this offseason.
Brissett might make the most sense for New England, which drafted the former NC State product in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. The Patriots traded Brissett to the Colts in September of 2017 in exchange for wide receiver Phillip Dorsett.