Prop bets on Seahawks' Kenneth Walker III draw heavy action ahead of Super Bowl

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Prop bets on Seahawks' Kenneth Walker III draw heavy action ahead of Super Bowl

2026-02-05 09:26 Last Updated At：09:40

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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NATO allies bewildered by Trump's about-face on US troop moves in Europe

HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.

The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.

But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.

“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”

U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.

The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.

Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.

Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.

Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”

About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.

The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.

But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.

Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.

Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”

Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.