Super Bowl 50 Prop Bets: 1st-Touchdown Odds Have Panthers' Newton as Favorite

Maybe the most popular Super Bowl prop bet to wager on is the player to score the first touchdown of the game. In Super Bowl 50, a wide variety of candidates for both the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos could find their way into the end zone first.

One player who accounted for more touchdowns than anyone this season is the plus-700 favorite (bet $100 to win $700) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark, as Carolina quarterback Cam Newton threw for 35 touchdowns and ran for 10 more during the regular season in helping his team finish 15-1.

But keep in mind passing touchdowns do not count for this prop bet because those are awarded to the wide receiver instead. Only a Newton rushing or receiving touchdown would count here, giving many other players a decent shot to score first as well.

For example, Panthers wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. scored 10 touchdowns during the regular season to tie Newton for the team lead. Ginn is listed at plus-1,000 to score the first touchdown behind Carolina tight end Greg Olsen (+750), Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart (+800) and Denver running back C.J. Anderson (+900).

Olsen was Newton’s top target this year and scored seven touchdowns in the regular season, while Stewart also had seven. Anderson scored five times, while fellow running back Ronnie Hillman (+1,400) led the Broncos with seven.

Denver wide receivers Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, who are both plus-900 to score the first touchdown, each had six during the regular season.

The only real downside to wagering on the player to score the first touchdown is that this bet tends to be decided fairly early in the game. There are many other touchdown wagers available on the Super Bowl 50 props board, though, including the player to score first for each team and players to score anytime in the game.

Of course the odds are much smaller for a player to score anytime, but at least you do not need to worry about the timing.

In addition, you can bet on the number of total touchdowns that will be scored in Super Bowl 50, ranging from over or under 3.5 to 5.5 with different odds for each of them. For example, taking over 3.5 total touchdowns requires laying minus-350 (bet $350 to win $100), while gambling on over 5.5 gets you a return of plus-125.