5 Best Bets For the NFL's 2024 Futures Markets

NFL Futures Best Bets For 2024 Season

All odds provided by Sports Interaction.

C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans - Regular Season Passing Yards Leader (+650)

C.J. Stroud had about as good a rookie season as you could possibly ask for apart from a couple of missed games due to a concussion. Then, he watched as his front office went and put together about as good an offseason this spring as a QB could possibly ask for.

They added an All-Pro wide receiver to a room that already had three Pro Bowl-caliber players, an intriguing TE in the draft to work behind their highly-paid starter, and they traded for a bonafide three-down workhorse running back. It’s on in Houston this year.

Not to mention that Stroud nearly led the league in passing yards as a rookie: he missed two games, so he didn’t amass the raw numbers, but he averaged 273.9 yards per game to lead the league. With all the additions they’ve made this offseason, it’s hard to believe he won’t eclipse that number in Year 2.

Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers - NFL Coach of the Year (+800)

Jim Harbaugh’s arrival in Tinseltown fresh off a National Championship at Michigan ruffled some feathers. The Chargers ownership are not known for shelling out such large sums to coaches, and Harbaugh only interviewed with one other team (Falcons), leading some to believe the league lent a hand in bringing Harbaugh and the Bolts together.

Whether or not you think that’s bunk, Harbaugh finds himself in a very advantageous position here in terms of his chances to win Coach of the Year. He’s got all the ingredients: he’s a first-year coach, his team was awful last year, he’s got the QB to turn it around, he’s got the pedigree, and he’s got the name recognition.

Oh, and did we mention that he won the award in his first year with the 49ers back in 2011? Four of the last six Coach of the Year winners were first-year coaches too, and of the new HCs in the NFL in 2024, no one is better set up for success than Harbaugh. And if the conspiracy around his signing is true, all the better for our bet here.

Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings - Regular Season Receiving Yards Leader (+1,100)

Oh, how quickly they forget. In 2022, Justin Jefferson led the league in receiving yards by a mile and won Offensive Player of the Year. Through the first four games last year (he was injured in the fifth game), he had 543 receiving yards, almost 10 percent more than the next best guy.

He missed most of the nine games in the middle of the season, but when he came back for the final four games, he was nearly just as good, putting up 476 yards while catching passes from the likes of Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall.

That was only 20 fewer than the leader over that span. Jefferson can clearly do it with whoever is under center, and considering the value of his odds here as the fourth-leading favorite paired with our belief that his Vikings will be playing from behind a lot, he’s clearly the best bet on the board.

Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens - Regular Season Rushing TDs Leader (+700)

Henry has scored 10+ TDs in six straight seasons, and led the league in that category in 2019 and 2020 while putting up 10 in eight games in 2021. He finished second in 2022 and seventh last year just behind Gus Edwards, who scored 13 for the Ravens thanks to the offense’s potency and the team’s reluctance to run Lamar Jackson near the goal line.

With Henry in tow, if they never call another QB sneak, it wouldn’t be surprising. With Edwards and J.K. Dobbins gone and Keaton Mitchell returning from a gruesome injury, the goal line touches are all Henry’s. The Ravens also scored 26 rushing TDs last year, the second-highest total in the league.

Sam Darnold, Minnesota Vikings - Player to Throw 30+ TDs (+1,600)

This one is our longest shot, and it might be our favorite. There is just so much value there for a QB playing in Kevin O’Connell’s system and throwing to the likes of Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson.

As we mentioned earlier, we expect Minnesota to be playing from behind a lot, which means passing yards and garbage TDs.

Unless Nick Mullens supplants him (fat chance), Darnold will play 17 games, and in that scenario, he would just need to throw more than one TD pass every other game while throwing at least one in the rest, that doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

This offense simply has too much talent at the skill positions (and the offensive line, for that matter, which will be new to Darnold) and with a smaller RB like Aaron Jones, most of their scores will come through the air.