What is the NFL Octopus? The weirdest prop bet with a massive payout in the Super Bowl
Here’s everything you need to know about the Super Bowl’s biggest gamble.
Every year, the Super Bowl brings with it a tidal wave of betting markets that have little to do with who wins or loses the game. And among the offerings is something called the Octopus. Despite the strange name, this isn’t about the quirky sea creatures; instead, it is one of the most unusual and potentially lucrative guesses you can make on Super Bowl Sunday.
Simply put, an Octopus happens when a single player scores a touchdown and then also scores the subsequent two-point conversion on the same possession. Since a touchdown is worth six points and the two-point try adds another two, the player ends up with eight points in one drive, hence the mollusc-flavoured nickname.
The term itself is surprisingly new. It was invented when Sports Illustrated writer Mitch Goldich wanted a fun way to describe an otherwise obscure statistical combination that can happen in an NFL game.
As Goldich was watching a game in 2018 in which Panthers wide receiver Torrey Smith scored both a touchdown and a two-point conversion, he pondered on social media that such an eight-point effort needed a memorable name. Mike Wallace, his friend, suggested “Octopus”, and the name quickly stuck.
Although the two-point conversion has been part of the NFL since 1994, Octopuses remain rare. By some counts there have been only a few hundred in league history, and even then they tend to cluster in games where a team is trailing and opts for the riskier two-point try instead of the extra point. Super Bowl LVII in 2023 produced the first and, so far, only Octopus in championship game history when Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts scored a rush touchdown and followed it up by rushing the two-point conversion to tie the game.
“It’s amazing. Honestly, I can’t believe it,” Goldich said, per Fox Sports. “It just began as this silly little thing, and it’s grown to where it actually happened in the Super Bowl. And I was in the stadium!”
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Because of the rarity, bookmakers often attach generous odds to the Octopus prop. In the Super Bowl, a bet on an octopus will likely give long odds because the chances of the event occurring are slim. For those who take more interest in the adverts and half-time show than the actual play, it might just be the way to get your through the action.
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