Once the NFL Draft was completed, the Detroit Lions didn’t see their 2022 futures odds change much for the upcoming season.
However, head coach Dan Campbell has surprisingly started shooting up the boards in the Coach of the Year market.
Originally one of the longest odds to win, Campbell now finds himself among the top coaches in the league.
Can the second-year leader of the Lions actually find a way to win the honor and make Michigan sports bettors very happy?
Campbell most bet on for COY
ProFootballTalk reported on Tuesday morning that Dan Campbell is getting the most wagers and handle of any coach in the Coach of the Year market at Caesars Sportsbook MI.
Campbell is getting nearly three times as many bets for COY and twice as much handle as any other coach in the market.
Due to the high volume of wagers on Campbell, Caesars has moved his odds from 60-1 to 25-1 in the last week.
Campbell trending upward at other sportsbooks
Caesars isn’t the only sportsbook seeing a big wave of Campbell wagers.
At BetMGM Michigan, Campbell is getting 35% of the wagers to win Coach of the Year. Frank Reich of the Indianapolis Colts is closest to Campbell in wagers, but getting just 12%.
MGM currently lists Campbell at +2000 to win the AP Coach of the Year honor, joining Reich, John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens and Matt Lafleur of the Green Bay Packers at 20-1. Six coaches are co-favorites at +1400.
At PointsBet Sportsbook MI, Campbell is also leading the pack in the COY market. He is getting 28.1% of the bet count right now and 33.8% of the handle. New Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson is closest to Campbell, but about 10% behind him in both markets.
PointsBet has only moved Campbell up to +3000 in the COY market. Brandon Staley of the Los Angeles Chargers is their favorite at +1300.
Other notable sportsbook odds for Campbell in the COY markets are:
- DraftKings Sportsbook MI: +2000
- FanDuel Sportsbook MI: +2000
- BetRivers Sportsbook MI: +1500
What would it take for Campbell to win?
Dan Campbell was 3-13-1 with the Detroit Lions in his first season as head coach.
Since the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award was first given out since 1957, only one coach has won the honor with a losing record. Jimmy Johnson won the award in 1990 with a 7-9 record as coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas was 1-15 the season prior.
Since then, every winner has had at least 10 wins in their respective season.
With a 17-game season now the norm, Campbell would be looking at a 10-7 record to get to that double digit mark. That would certainly be a drastic improvement.
Should Campbell win, he would join George Wilson (1957) and Wayne Fontes (1991) as the only Detroit Lions coaches to take home the honor. Wilson led the Lions to the NFL Championship in 1957. Fontes led the Lions to their last playoff victory in 1991. It wouldn’t be bad company to join.
Lions’ odds staying put
Despite the love from sports bettors for Dan Campbell, the Detroit Lions are staying put in the odds basement.
Respective books are still listing Detroit among the biggest longshots to win the Super Bowl and NFC Championship. They also remain as the biggest longshot in the NFC North.
The over/under for regular season wins is holding steady at 6.5. When it comes to making the playoffs, BetMGM is keeping their odds at +500.
It’s hard to imagine Dan Campbell winning Coach of the Year without the Lions making the postseason. Especially when you consider seven teams now make it from each conference.
While he’s a “player’s coach” and somewhat of a media favorite for his sound bites, the Lions still have to win football games for him to make a lot of bettors happy.
