Super Bowl LIX is among us where the Kansas City Chiefs look to complete the unthinkable by winning three Super Bowls in a row against the Philadelphia Eagles. It's a rematch of Super Bowl LVII where the Chiefs began this historic run.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA.
Continue below for my Chiefs vs. Eagles player props centered around Saquon Barkley for Super Bowl LIX.
Saquon Barkley Player Props
Saquon Barkley Under 27.5 Rushing Yards in First Quarter (-140)
Heading into Sunday’s Super Bowl, there’s been a huge amount of talk about one man in particular, and that’s Saquon Barkley. The running back is having a historic season and if he were to rush for 30 yards, he’d break Terrell Davis’ single- season record (including the playoffs).
Barkley's rushing yards total is incredibly high for this one, coming in at 111.5 — it’s a number that’s not worth backing either way. On the plus side, we’ve seen how dynamic he is. He’s had 14 games of 100+ rushing yards and has covered this number 11 times.
He’s also situation-proof and even if the Eagles are chasing a big lead, they won’t shy away from him.
On the flip side, he’s up against one of the best defensive coordinators of this century in Steve Spagnuolo, who has had two weeks to come up with a way to slow him down. It’s also worth remembering that the Chiefs under Spagnuolo have never had a player rush for 100 yards against them in the postseason.
I don’t have enough conviction either way to back the over or under on Barkley across the full game. However, taking under 27.5 rushing yards in the first quarter seems like the way to go. Across the regular season, he averaged 24.6 rushing yards per game in the first quarter and it seems foolish to expect him to go over that here.
Spagnuolo and the Chiefs have had a long time to prepare; while Barkley could explode at some point, you’d have to imagine that they keep him under wraps to start the game.
These huge games often start more slowly than people expect and the Chiefs will be all too aware of not letting Barkley get going early in this contest.
Saquon Barkley Super Bowl MVP (+270)
If you’re backing the Eagles to win, which full disclosure I am not, then you have to back Barkley to win the MVP. It’s a big price in comparison to the Eagles moneyline (+100 to -105) and we won’t see Philadelphia win unless Barkley goes off.
Barkley is the centerpiece of this offense and more important than Jalen Hurts, he’s also more of a game-changer than any other player on both sides of the ball.
If he puts up 100+ yards and scores, then the award is his. And given that he’s scored 20 times already this season, including five in the past two games, there’s a good chance of that.
Add his performance in with the narrative around finishing third in the MVP race, and breaking Terrell Davis’ record, and there’s going to be no other destination for this award to land.
