A Random Reddit Post Has Drastically Changed The Odds For The No. 1 Overall Pick of the NFL Draft
Will Levis became the betting favorite to be selected second in Thursday’s NFL draft over the weekend. Now, the Kentucky quarterback is gaining steam to be the first overall pick.
Levis’s odds to go No. 1 to the Panthers shortened from +4000 to +600 Tuesday morning at SI Sportsbook, a dramatic shift that appears to be in response to a Reddit rumor. Accordingly, his odds to go second cooled marginally from -133 to +100, though Levis still has the best odds to go No. 2 to the Texans.
Reddit user SaleAgreeable2834 referenced Levis’s long odds to be the first pick and wrote, “Well ladies and gentleman [sic], he’s telling friends and family Carolina will in fact take him on Thursday. You’re welcome.”
Bryce Young, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback out of Alabama, remains a firm favorite to go first to Carolina at -2000. Young’s odds have progressively shortened in recent weeks since he first passed Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was originally dubbed the betting favorite after the Panthers acquired the No. 1 pick from the Bears in March.
After Young and Levis, Stroud (+750) and Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson (+1600) have the next-best odds to hear their names called first.
In SI’s latest mock draft, Conor Orr has the Panthers taking Young first, Levis going fourth to the Colts, Stroud to the Titans at No. 10 in a trade up with the Eagles and Richardson landing in Houston at No. 12, the team’s second of two first-round selections.
Only one Kentucky Wildcat has ever been drafted No. 1 overall: The Browns took quarterback Tim Couch first in 1999. If this movement is more than just smoke, Levis could join Couch in that club. But the betting odds still indicate Young is the overwhelming favorite to wind up in Carolina.
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