The first touchdown scorer is one of the most popular prop bets for any game but especially the Super Bowl. This is a look at the odds to score the first touchdown of Super Bowl 59 between the Chiefs and Eagles.
First Touchdown Scorer Odds
The first touchdown scorer is the player who crosses the goal line with the ball. So, the odds for Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes apply only to a rushing or receiving touchdown, not a passing touchdown. Instead of individual defensive players, the entire team’s defense and special teams is listed under one bet. So if the first touchdown of the game is a pick-six or fumble recovery for a touchdown on defense or special teams, that team’s D/ST would be the winning bet. However, if it is a kick or punt return touchdown, the winning bet would be the individual player who crossed the goal line, not the team’s D/ST.
The Eagles have scored the first touchdown in all three of their playoff games so far. Saquon Barkley scored one, Jalen Hurts scored one and Jahan Dotson scored one. That is quite the trio because Barkley and Hurts have the two best odds to score the first touchdown of the Super Bowl, while Dotson’s odds are at +7000. That just proves that the players with the best odds do often score the first touchdown but there is always a chance that a complete wild card will score the first touchdown. Barkley and Hurts have the best odds because they have scored a large majority of the Eagles’ touchdowns this season. They have combined for nine of the team’s 13 postseason touchdowns and combined for 29 of the team’s 53 touchdowns in the regular season.
For the Chiefs, there is not a clear one or even two players that score the most touchdowns like there is for the Eagles. So far in the postseason, they have only scored six touchdowns. Kareem Hunt scored two, Patrick Mahomes scored two, Travis Kelce scored one and Xavier Worthy scored one. In the regular season, only three players had five or more touchdowns for the Chiefs. Worthy led the way with nine, Hunt had seven and backup tight end Noah Gray had five. Hunt appears to be the clear lead running back over Isiah Pacheco so he has the best odds of anyone on the Chiefs, followed by Travis Kelce, who is always at his best in the postseason. Then the Chiefs’ touchdown leader on the season, Xavier Worthy, sits at +1100.
When these teams last met in the Super Bowl, it was Jalen Hurts who scored the game’s first touchdown. In fact, the Chiefs have not scored first in any of their past three Super Bowl appearances. They did, however, score the first touchdown in their first Super Bowl victory of this era and Patrick Mahomes ran for that first touchdown. Over the past 20 Super Bowls, seven first touchdowns were scored by running backs, seven were scored by wide receivers, three were scored by quarterbacks, two were scored by tight ends and one was scored by a defensive player. So, while long shots are always possible, running backs and wide receivers have dominated the first touchdown market in recent history. However, Jalen Hurts specifically but also Mahomes to an extent, are quarterbacks very capable of finding the end zone as well.
