The NFL season kicks off tonight with the Green Bay Packers visiting Chicago Bears for the season opener.
The march for the Super Bowl LIV looks more open than ever before and we’ll be keeping a close eye on proceedings before committing to a picking a winner. That said, player performances are generally more predictable, injuries aside, than teams, and some of the stats markets make great appeal. See our top tips below:
Most Receiving Yards is particularly interesting with constant contender Julio Jones a very big +555 with Fanduel Sportsbook. The lanky Falcons wide-man gets to play indoors for most of the season, and as the key target for trigger happy QB Matt Ryan’s offence he gets plenty of work. Second in this market in 2016 and 2017, he topped the list last year and it is hard not to see Jones going very close again this year.
Most Rushing Yard market: I’m going to call it here – The Favorites, Ezekiel Elliott (+350) and Saquon Barkley (+350) are disposable and will not top the market this year . Why? – Elliot as he may misses a few games early on, whilst the latter will be a marked man in an offence stripped of alternative threat in Beckham Jnr.
Step forward (or rush forward even), Derrick Henry. The thundering Titan running back was 7th in this stat in his breakthrough season last year. Playing in a weak division and with a kindly schedule, he looks set to improve on those numbers and is a great option @+1400 with Pointbet NJ!
Get on Derick Henry @+1400 with Pointsbet NJ
Regular season MVP: Finally, whilst it’s hard to commit on a Super Bowl winning team, The New Orleans Saints look primed to be huge contenders from the NFC side of the draw. Whilst being a top seeded team is not essential in determining the regular season MVP, it certainly helps. The extraordinary Patrick Mahoney won this in his first full season last year but will do well to repeat those heroics for a Chiefs team likely to be in a season long dogfight with a capable Chargers team. Instead, a top seed romp for the Saints should pave the way for veteran QB Drew Brees to finally get an honor he must have come very close to in the past. He could challenge for Most Passing Yards, (@+1500 with Pointsbet), but at a similar price for MVP (@+1400) we get the benefit of a more holistic assessment and a potentially sympathetic overdue vote.