LAS VEGAS (AP) — Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III is at the center of proposition bets drawing strong action as the Seahawks prepare to meet the New England Patriots in Sunday's Super Bowl.
BetMGM Sportsbook has taken a large amount of money on Walker to go over 20 1/2 receiving yards and under 72 1/2 rushing yards.
Walker surpassed that receiving yardage total in both playoff games and in four of his past five games including the regular season. He reached the rushing total in three of those.
The rushing yards prop bet opened at 78 1/2 yards.
“That is the most-bet under for any prop across the board,” said John Ewing, BetMGM's PR media insights manager. “Usually, players tend to want to wager on positive outcomes, but this is one situation where the rushing yard prop has come down quite a bit.”
Walker is a popular bet at DraftKings Sportsbook as well. He is +350 to score the game's first touchdown and -195 to hit the end zone at any time.
Wagers on touchdowns by several players are proving popular for DraftKings bettors.
“That's one prop that's taking a lot of action,” said Johnny Avello, DraftKings director of race and sportsbook operations. “And it usually does take a lot of action during the year. It doesn't surprise me that's probably going to be the biggest prop of anything for the Super Bowl.”
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the +550 favorite to score the first TD and -110 to score a touchdown any time. Teammate Cooper Kupp holds 14-1 odds to score the first touchdown.
Super Bowl bettors have plenty of options. They can wager on everything from whether there will be a safety to if the game will go into overtime to who will be named MVP.
A sportsbook typically will offer more than 1,000 prop bets, though many are variations of the same base wager. Each quarterback, for example, will have different odds posted on whether he might pass for at least 200, 250 or 300 yards.
“Caesars helped ignite the Super Bowl prop betting craze back in the 1980s,” said Craig Mucklow, Caesars Sportsbook vice president of trading. “This is our most comprehensive and diverse prop menu ever.”
Avello said posting so many different props isn't as challenging as it sounds.
“It's because we do it every Sunday on every single game,” Avello said. “We have our model and we just plug in the teams that are new to the players and everything to do with that particular game. We've had a lot of these props up since Sunday night two Sundays ago.”
Some states will take a sportsbook's full slate of prop bets, but others have laws restricting what can be wagered on.
Not all states allow bets on whether the coin toss will come up heads or tails. Only a handful permit betting on what color Gatorade will be splashed on the winning coach.
“What BetMGM is focused on are props that happen on the field, so that takes away any of the ambiguity,” Ewing said. “That's why most props are ones most bettors are used to.”
Offshore sportsbooks and predictions markets don't play by the same rules and can offer many subjective props, such as the length of the national anthem. That is not allowed in the U.S. for numerous reasons. The time that the song begins and ends can be interpreted differently, and there is also the possibility that bettors could have inside information about the performance.
For those making traditional bets on the outcome of the game, the Seahawks are consensus 4 1/2-point favorites.
“Right now, we have a majority of the action on the Seahawks' spread, which is the most-bet market,” Ewing said. “The Seahawks on the future market is our only liability remaining, so we are going to be cheering for the Patriots to maybe pull the upset or at least keep it close.”
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A view of Levi's Stadium ahead of Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, in Santa Clara. Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) scores a touchdown past Los Angeles Rams linebacker Byron Young (0) during the first half of the NFC Championship NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will take place Friday in Oman, the Iranian foreign minister said, as tensions between the countries remain high following Tehran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.
The announcement Wednesday by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi came after hours of indications that the anticipated talks were faltering over changes in the format and content of the talks. U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, sent a blunt warning to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ahead of the talks.
“I would say he should be very worried,” Trump said of Khamenei in an interview with NBC News.
Turkey had been working behind the scenes to host talks in Istanbul with regional countries taking part and discussions focused on issues like Iran's ballistic missile program and other concerns.
Early Wednesday, a regional official said Iran was seeking a “different” type of meeting focused exclusively on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, with participation limited to Iran and the United States. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
A similar series of talks had been hosted last year by Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that long as served as an interlocutor between Iran and the West. Those talks ultimately broke down in June as Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites.
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the talks publicly, confirmed the talks would happen in Oman. The official said several Arab and Muslim leaders urged the Trump administration on Wednesday not to walk away from talks even as Iranian officials pressed to narrow their scope.
The official added that the White House remains “very skeptical” that the talks will be successful but has agreed to go along with the change in plans out of respect for allies in the region.
Alan Eyre, a former U.S. diplomat once involved in past nuclear negotiations with Tehran, similarly offered a skeptical opinion of talks succeeding.
“Opting for indirect talks is the diplomatic equivalent of a surgeon taking a hit of ether and then putting on gloves before a difficult surgery,” Eyre wrote on X.
Tensions between the countries spiked after Trump suggested the U.S. might use force against Iran in response to the bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month that killed thousands of people or if Iran conducted mass executions of detained demonstrators. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported Wednesday that over 50,000 people also had been arrested over the protests.
Trump also has been pushing Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program.
Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday said he had instructed the foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the U.S., in the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate. That signaled the move is supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state and previously dismissed any negotiations.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. hoped to discuss a number of concerns beyond the nuclear issue, including discussions on Iran’s ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and the “treatment of their own people.”
“The leadership of Iran at the clerical level does not reflect the people of Iran. I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there,” he told reporters.
Vice President JD Vance told “The Megyn Kelly Show” that diplomatic talks with Iran are challenging because Khamenei oversees Tehran’s political system and declines to speak directly with Trump, unlike the leaders of China, North Korea or Russia.
Vance said Trump’s bottom line is that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, asserting that other states in the region would quickly do the same.
Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. However, Iranian officials in recent years have increasingly threatened to pursue the bomb and had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Vance said he believed Trump would work to “accomplish what he can through non-military means. And if he feels like the military is the only option, then he’s ultimately going to choose that option.”
On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier. Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Navy said.
Iran did not formally acknowledge either incident, which strained but apparently did not derail hopes for talks with the U.S.
On Wednesday, Iranian military chiefs visited a missile base in an attempt to highlight its military readiness after the 12-day war devastated Iran’s air defenses. The base holds the Khorramshahr missile, which has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) and was launched toward Israel during the war last year.
Also Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s opposition to foreign intervention in neighboring Iran, calling for the resolution of issues through dialogue.
Turkey has been urgently working for the past week to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, and was previously expected to host the talks.
“We believe that external interventions involving our neighbor Iran would pose significant risks for the entire region,” Erdogan said during a visit to Cairo. “Resolving issues with Iran, including the nuclear file, through diplomatic means is the most appropriate approach.”
Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Farnoush Amiri in New York, and Aamer Madhani and Moriah Balingit in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, is welcomed by an unidentified Omani official, center, upon his arrival at Muscat, Oman, for negotiations with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, as Iranian Ambassador to Oman Mousa Farhang walks at right, May 11, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP, File)
