Morning Coffee: Seahawks open as an obvious Super Bowl favourite versus Patriots at FanDuel

The math is simple in the National Football League.

A bad head coach hire equals no chance at a Super Bowl.

If you land the perfect head coach hire, your franchise could end up in the Super Bowl a whole lot earlier than the experts predicted.

Eight NFL teams with head coach vacancies passed on the opportunity to hire Mike Vrabel after he was fired by the Tennessee Titans in early 2024.

That list includes the New England Patriots, which opted instead to replace legendary head coach Bill Belichick with a first-time head coach in Jerod Mayo.

Fortunately for Patriots Nation, owner Robert Kraft didn’t hesitate to make another change after New England went 4-13 in Year 1 of the Mayo experiment.

Although Kraft called it the “worst financial decision” he’s ever made as the Patriots owner earlier this week, there’s no doubt he made the right call by firing Mayo, then hiring Vrabel and allowing him to build his own staff.

After going a combined 8-26 in two seasons prior to Vrabel’s arrival, New England went 14-3 in 2025, won the AFC East title, and is headed back to the Super Bowl.

The Titans are a combined 6-28 since they fired Vrabel.

Meanwhile, in his second year as head coach, Mike MacDonald has led the Seattle Seahawks back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 11 years.

It will be the first Super Bowl since 2003 to feature two teams that missed the playoffs the previous season.

The Seahawks could be found as high as +20000 to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel back in March.

Seattle to win the Super Bowl was +6000 at FanDuel entering Week 1.

The Patriots could also be found as high as +20000 to win it all at FanDuel back in March and as high as +15500 to win it all after a Week 1 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

The turnarounds in New England and Seattle perfectly illustrate how landing the ideal head coach can completely transform the fortunes of a franchise.

Now we get to see Vrabel’s Patriots and MacDonald’s Seahawks go head-to-head on the game’s biggest stage at Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara.

FanDuel’s “FANUARY” celebration continues with a long list of early player props for the NFL season finale.

Let’s take a quick look at some of their most interesting early numbers in this Morning Coffee column for Monday January 26^th, 2026.

Seahawks Open As An Obvious Super Bowl Favourite Versus Patriots At FanDuel

FanDuel made the Seahawks a 3.5-point favourite against the Patriots on their early lookahead line prior to the conclusion of the NFC Championship Game.

That number has since climbed to Seattle -4.5 at FanDuel.

One prominent Las Vegas sportsbook has already moved to Seahawks -5 this morning.

It looks like the favourite will be a popular side with 75 per cent of the early bets and 79 per cent of the stakes on the Seahawks to cover the spread at FanDuel.

Meanwhile, the Super Bowl total is 46.5 and is -118 to the under at FanDuel this morning.

63 per cent of the stakes are on the under 46.5 at FanDuel, compared to only 37 per cent of the bets.

As for player props, there are three early numbers I’m willing to jump on this morning rather than wait.

If you’ve tailed me throughout the NFL playoffs, then you probably already know what I’m looking at.

First up, I like Kenneth Walker III over 20.5 receiving.

Walker finished with 29 receiving yards on three catches in a blowout win over the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round.

Then he recorded 49 receiving yards on four catches in the NFC Championship win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Walker has cleared 29+ receiving yards in both playoff wins and four of his last five games overall.

Although the matchup could be tougher if the Patriots play more man defence, I’m banking on the Seahawks to rely on their star running back again in the biggest game.

Walker should be able to clear 3+ receptions and 21+ receiving yards again in the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, I also think New England will turn to its veteran running back with some designed looks for valuable yards in the passing game.

After I bet Rhamondre Stevenson over 2.5 receptions, he didn’t have a single catch in the AFC Championship.

He ran for 71 yards on 25 carries in the Denver snow.

Prior to the win over the Broncos, Stevenson had two or more receptions in seven straight games and cleared 22 or more receiving yards in all but one of them.

In the NFC Championship Game, Blake Corum and Kyren Williams combined for 46 yards on five receptions.

I’ll count on Stevenson to make an impact in the passing game once again in the Super Bowl and go over 20.5 receiving yards for New England.

Speaking of impact in the passing game, Stefon Diggs over 4.5 receptions at +102 is a FanDuel Best Bet.

I played Diggs over 44.5 receiving yards against the Broncos in the AFC Championship game.

It didn’t take long for me to wish I had played 5+ receptions at plus money.

Diggs had five catches for 17 yards on six targets before the blizzard hit Denver and disrupted the passing games in the second half.

With better conditions in the Super Bowl, Diggs should be able to deliver 5+ receptions at +102 as Drake Maye’s most reliable target.

With the biggest game of the year still two weeks away, is there an early bet that you think is worth playing now as good value ahead of the Super Bowl?

Hit me up @Domenic_Padula on X and let me know.

With a long list of early player props, there’s plenty of value to be had.

It’s up to us to find it.

In the meantime, I’ll lock in Walker over 20.5 receiving, Stevenson over 20.5 receiving, and Diggs over 4.5 receptions as early FanDuel Best Bets for the Super Bowl.

Have a great day, everyone!