It’s hard to remember a defending Super Bowl champion flying under the radar entering a season more than this year’s Seahawks.
Seattle has the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl this year and is a rare defending champion that is not even favored to win its own division.
Granted, the odds are what they are for a reason.
The Los Angeles Rams are the favorites in the NFC West at -105 after acquiring reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns back in June, and prying Aaron Donald out of retirement over the weekend.
They dramatically upgraded a team that was neck-and-neck with the Seahawks last year.
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The combination of Garrett and Donald is a big one and perhaps there is still skepticism about Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold sustaining his high level of play for another season. But from a betting perspective, there is value on the Seahawks at +215 to win the NFC West.
Their main competition, the Rams, will start the season with a challenging schedule. They fly to Australia to play a solid San Francisco 49ers team and also have to play on the road against the Denver Broncos on short rest in Week 3. That is followed by games against the Eagles and Bills — all in the first five weeks of the season.
A big factor in who wins the division will be how the Rams and Seahawks fare head-to-head, but those matchups don’t take place until Week 16 and Week 18. And yes, the 49ers can’t be overlooked here either as a viable contender.
However, when you consider the price for the Seahawks and the challenging schedule the favored Rams have to endure early on, it’s fair to make a case that the defending champions are being slighted by the oddsmakers.
While the hype is justifiable surrounding the star-studded Rams, the value is on the overlooked Seahawks to once again win the NFC West.
