Even Blue Jays fans will have one eye on the NFL news for the upcoming season because, really, mostly everyone loves football and they either love to play fantasy football or bet on the gridiron. But in the NFL, there has been a recent spate of holdouts and you have to be care of them when you’re making your picks.
A team’s odds at sports betting sites are going to be affected by a holdout and depending on their importance, the change could be drastic. For example, New Orleans and Drew Brees are having problems coming together on a new deal and he could hold out; the Saints’ odds are dropping already because of “Bountygate” and now they could be without their franchise quarterback.
But it could not only hurt the team, but Brees as well as he has to be able to train with his teammates and get on the same page with the offense. Also, it takes a few games to back up to game speed and you can look at the example of Tennessee running back Chris Johnson as an example of this. Johnson ran for over 2,000 yards and then held out for a new deal; he struggled most of last year and incurred the ire of Titans fans.
Chicago’s Matt Forte is the next player that could hold out and he is a huge part of the Bears’ offense. There is a good chance that he is going to get his money, and his performance is going to push his team’s sports betting odds one way or the other.