Five prop bets for Super Bowl LVI

It’s time to finally lock in those last-minute prop bets before Super Bowl LVI kicks off between the favorite Los Angeles Rams and the underdog Cincinnati Bengals. While the rags to riches story of the Bengals is heart-warming, my general thought about this Super Bowl matchup is that the key of the game is going to be Rams pass-rushers Von Miller, Leonard Floyd and Aaron Donald going head-to-head with right side of Cincinnati’s offensive line, which saw guard Hakeem Adeniji benched for rookie Jackson Carman (just for Carman to be benched for Adeniji) mid-game against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game.

Assuming that the Rams will be able to build an early lead against the Bengals due to that matchup, here are five bets I’m making on DraftKings for the Super Bowl:

Matthew Stafford U35.5 pass attempts -110

The bread and butter of this Los Angeles Rams team is throwing the football, but we’ve seen Rams head coach Sean McVay get conservative in big moments before. In the regular season, Stafford threw no fewer than 26 pass attempts in a single game, but in the wildcard round, McVay only had Stafford throw the ball 17 times (for 13 completions) when the Rams were able to build an early lead. After the first drive of the second half, Stafford only threw four passes over the entire final three drives of the game.

Most rushing yards: Darrell Henderson +750

Rams running back Darrell Henderson has been on the injured reserve since Week 16 with a knee injury. In his absence, Cam Akers, who has returned to the field from an early-season Achilles injury, has registered 59 carries for 154 yards (2.6 yards per carry) and no touchdowns. Akers’ story is great, but his production on the field simply hasn’t been there. Earlier this week McVay stated that he will ride the “hot hand,” which, considering Akers’ recent production and the fact that Sony Michel is essentially relegated to a short-yardage back, very well could mean that Henderson ends up as the top rusher in the Super Bowl.

Longest rush: Darrell Henderson +900

The same logic for the analysis above applies for this bet too.

Van Jefferson longest reception O18.5 -115

Van Jefferson is the Los Angeles Rams’ deep threat and if he doesn’t hit 19 yards on his longest reception in a game, he gets very close. Over the 20 games the Rams have played this season, Jefferson has recorded an 18-yard reception in 16 of them. That includes 13 games of a reception of 18 yards or more in his last 15 games. One would think that with two weeks to prepare for Cooper Kupp’s ability to produce from the slot that the Cincinnati Bengals will have some sort of an answer on how to bottle him up, but that should allow for one-on-one matchups elsewhere for Jefferson and Odell Beckham Jr.

Odell Beckham Jr. O63.5 receiving yards -120

Even including Stafford’s 17 pass attempt game against the Cardinals in the wildcard round, Odell Beckham Jr. has averaged 79 receiving yards per game in this playoffs. It seems as though Beckham is becoming more comfortable in the Rams offense, which is finally designing plays for him, and that should only have improved after spending two more weeks in the system since the last time we saw him take the field.