XFL Pick: BattleHawks to Win Title (+350) at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
The St. Louis BattleHawks are the early title favorites on the XFL odds board – but their lead over the other seven teams is very slim.
For St. Louis residents looking to bet on this game, you can do it at our top Missouri betting sites.
Little did Travis Kelce know (or did he?) that he was helping to promote a rival league when he cut that promo on the Cincinnati Bengals after last Sunday’s AFC title game. “Know your role” and “jabroni” comes straight from the mouth of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, aka The Great One, aka Lead Owner of the XFL.
Yes, the XFL is back for another kick at the can in 2023. Because of the pandemic, this will be their first season since 2020, and just their second since wresting promoter Vince McMahon created the league back in 2001. The same eight teams from the 2020 campaign will be in action; here’s how the XFL futures market looks at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review) as we go to press:
- St. Louis BattleHawks (+350)
- Seattle Sea Dragons (+400)
- Arlington Renegades (+400)
- Vegas Vipers (+450)
- Orlando Guardians (+500)
- San Antonio Brahmas (+550)
- Houston Roughnecks (+600)
- DC Defenders (+650)
Excellent, now all we have to do is look at the XFL projections, compare them to the actual football odds, and… what’s that? We don’t have any XFL projections? It doesn’t matter if we don’t have any XFL projections! We’re going to do this anyway, and if the BattleHawks are the favorites, there must be a reason.
A.J. Styles
The XFL is still a football league, the last we checked, and the quarterback is still the most important position on the gridiron. The 2023 XFL Draft started last November with the league allocating two quarterbacks to each franchise, and St. Louis may have gotten the pick of the litter with A.J. McCarron and Ryan Willis.
McCarron was a stud quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide, winning back-to-back titles in 2011-12 and 2012-13. Then he went on to an undistinguished eight-year career in the NFL, spending the first four years backing up Andy Dalton for the Cincinnati Bengals before bouncing around the league.
He wasn’t all that bad, either. McCarron ended up starting three games in his rookie 2015 campaign, finishing with six touchdown passes and two picks; his plus-6.9% passing DVOA at Football Outsiders was in the same neighborhood as Cam Newton (plus-7.6%), who finished No. 12 overall among qualifying quarterbacks.
McCarron never did manage to unseat the Red Rifle, though, and shoulder and knee injuries derailed his NFL career from there. But even at age 32 and at less than 100%, McCarron is probably the best player in the XFL today.
As for Willis, he was the 2021 MVP for The Spring League, which I can confirm was a thing. The former Virginia Tech walk-on and Chicago Bears fourth-stringer led the Linemen to victory over the Sea Lions at the first and only Mega Bowl. He knows his role.
Shine That Contract up Real Nice
At the other end of the XFL futures list, you have the Roughnecks and the Defenders, who got the raw end of the deal when the quarterbacks were allocated. Kurt Benkert, a two-year starter at Virginia who spent some time on various practice squads in the NFL, was assigned to Houston but decided not to sign a contract.
It was a different story altogether for DC and former Miami Hurricanes QB/WR D’Eriq King. Injuries messed up King’s promising college career, and his skill set probably won’t translate to pro football – unless head coach Reggie Barlow has something up his sleeve.
Ham and Eggers
Then you have all those teams in between. The only other quarterback who really stands out from this group, at least in our eyes, is Kyle Sloter, who was assigned to the Renegades alongside Drew Plitt. Sloter started in 2016 at Northern Colorado before signing with seven different NFL teams, getting zero regular-season snaps in the process – but he did earn All-USFL honors last year for the New Orleans Breakers.
Other than that, we’re not seeing any reason to bet on anyone other than St. Louis. Not only did they land McCarron, but the BattleHawks also got to pick second in the “Skill Players” phase of the XFL Draft, and they snapped up WR Marcell Ateman, who was second-team All-Big 12 in 2017 out of Oklahoma State.
Ateman was a seventh-round pick for the Oakland Raiders the following year and showed some flashes, but spent the next four years ping-ponging between the active roster and practice squad; then the Arizona Cardinals took a flyer on Ateman last year before cutting him loose. Their loss could be St. Louis’s gain – and yours, too if you smell what the prolate spheroid is cookin’.
XFL Pick: BattleHawks to Win Title (+350) at Bovada
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
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