NFL Week 1 Odds & Picks: Best Early Bets (2024)
There won’t be a Sunday without football until February!
Week 1 of the NFL season will begin on Thursday. To kick off the season, the Ravens will take on the Chiefs in an epic AFC matchup. That’ll be followed by a game in Brazil between the Packers and the Eagles.
There will also be 12 games on Sunday afternoon, another one at night, and Week 1 will conclude with a Monday Night Football game between the Jets and 49ers.
I’ve added some early bets to my portfolio for NFL Week 1 and you can tail them below.
- NFL Player Prop Bets
- NFL PrizePicks Player Predictions
- NFL Consensus Odds
- NFL Expert Game Predictions
NFL Top Early Week Picks (Week 1)
(Odds courtesy of DraftKingsFanDuel Sportsbook)
Houston Texans vs. Indianapolis Colts
We’ll get a fun Week 1 matchup between Houston’s C.J. Stroud and Indianapolis’ Anthony Richardson. The hype train is moving on both. However, Richardson hasn’t done enough to warrant all the hype with the Colts.
Richardson played in four games last season and added seven touchdowns with just one interception. But he also completed below 60% of passes and will continue to get injured if he takes massive hits.
In addition, the Colts expect Jonathan Taylor to have a big year. But he’s already forgotten due to his lengthy injury history himself. Beyond that, it’s not even certain Josh Downs will be available for the start of the season. The Colts added Adonai Mitchell from the draft earlier this season, but he might not even get the nod over Alec Pierce on the depth chart.
On the other hand, the Texans added many new pieces to help C.J. Stroud take it to the next level. The Texans will have their injury concerns at wide receiver. But at least for now, they’re healthy.
On offense, Houston will often have RB Joe Mixon, WR Nico Collins, WR Stefon Diggs, WR Tank Dell, and TE Dalton Schultz on the field at the same time. The Texans have so many weapons, and that should bring more consistency to this group. Even if there’s an injury, the Texans are deep enough with John Metchie III, Robert Woods, or Dameon Pierce.
Plus, Houston’s defense will still be anchored by Will Anderson, who had a really good rookie season last year. I’m on Houston at -140 on the Moneyline on the road.
Pick: Texans ML (-140)
New York Jets vs. San Francisco 49ers
While there’s so much hype for Aaron Rodgers to make his return, let’s not forget he’s facing one of the best defenses in the NFL in Week 1.
Rodgers ultimately has a lot to prove with the Jets. He’s already made headlines for the wrong reasons, with the newest headline suggesting the Jets’ locker room is in disarray. Only the locker room knows if that’s true. But ultimately, Rodgers is only getting older, and the Jets’ offense has never yielded a large sum of points under head coach Robert Saleh.
On the other hand, the 49ers finally agreed to a deal with Brandon Aiyuk. But having him miss most off-season practices likely won’t help in Game 1. Let’s also not forget that McCaffrey has a calf injury that didn’t help his offseason. McCaffrey hadn’t practiced for about a month.
While he’s one of the best players in the NFL, even he might be a little off on Monday night.
Therefore, I’ll back the Under 43.5 in this MNF showdown.
Pick: Under 43.5 (-112)