NFL Handicapping Articles

NFL Odds: Week 3 Matchup Power Rankings
by Alan Matthews - 6/3/2014

Really not a very sexy lineup of games in Week 3 -- the last before the bye weeks again -- but the entire schedule is boosted up by one matchup: the Super Bowl rematch between the Broncos and Seahawks in Seattle. Think that will do well ratings-wise for CBS? The following odds are part of the full-season of NFL odds that were released recently by CG Technologies in Las Vegas.

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Props Odds and Betting Picks
by Dave Schwab - 6/3/2014

The top college football players in the county last season found new homes in the NFL in last month’s draft, so Bovada quickly calculated the results to release its futures odds to win this season’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

NFL Season Win Totals Picks: Toughest Teams to Handicap
by Trevor Whenham - 6/2/2014

When you look at NFL season win totals, there are some that jump out as immediate bargains — your opinion and those of the oddsmakers differ, and there is value to be had. Then there are several totals in which a side clearly emerges after you consider the options for a while. What’s left behind are the teams that just don’t stand out — the really tough teams to judge. One second you can make an argument that the “over” is the right call.

Jacksonville Jaguars Odds to Win the Super Bowl
by Alan Matthews - 5/30/2014

We start our 2014 NFL team previews at the bottom with the longest shot by far to win the Super Bowl: the Jaguars. This is a franchise that hasn't had a winning record since 2007 and has totaled 11 wins the past three seasons. That obviously means high draft picks, but so far it looks like Jacksonville has whiffed. We obviously don't yet know what 2014 No. 3 overall pick Blake Bortles will be for a while.

NFL Season Win Totals: Sucker Bets
by Trevor Whenham - 5/28/2014

When it comes to NFL season win totals, there are some bets that the sportsbooks are just daring you to make. They throw the numbers out there like a trap, knowing it will catch tons of unsuspecting, and most likely doomed, public money. Oddsmakers know how the public is going to think in some situations, and they lay numbers out there to prey on their biases. They are sucker bets, and as handicappers our job is to be able to identify them as avoid them.

NFL Odds: Week 2 Matchup Power Rankings
by Alan Matthews - 5/27/2014

Week 2 of the 2014 season brings us a first: CBS' Thursday Night Football coverage, featuring Pittsburgh at Baltimore, although you can also still watch it on the NFL Network should you choose. If you have to play one of those short-week games, it's probably a benefit to get it out of the way so early in the season. Here's my rankings of each game for Week 2 with opening odds.

NFL Countdown to Kickoff: Season Win Totals Value Picks
by Dave Schwab - 5/26/2014

The majority of the big-name free agents have either resigned with their original team or found a new place to call home, and this year’s crop of top college prospects are with their new team via the recent draft. Even though the first regular-season game is still over three months away, this is traditionally the time of the year where oddsmakers release a host of team and player prop odds as well as their futures odds for a number of different categories.

2015 Possible Super Bowl Matchups: Early Odds
by George Monroy - 5/22/2014

With the 2014-15 NFL season steadily approaching, the oddsmakers have been working overtime since the schedule was released in mid-April. Most sportsbooks first released Week 1 lines, then games of the year lines, and now Week 2 through 16 lines. Doc’s Sports has already begun to take an in-depth look at the early spreads, so let’s continue that trend by going over Sportsbook.ag’s early 2015 Super Bowl matchup odds.

NFL Odds: Week 1 Matchup Power Rankings
by Alan Matthews - 5/22/2014

Now that odds for every single NFL regular-season game have been released by a few books, which is just terrific, I will start previewing each week of the season by ranking the games in order of strongest matchup to weakest. I'd like to say I will pick a winner in each side, but obviously injuries are fairly prevalent in the NFL, so there's no way to project past Week 1.

2014 NFL Odds Released for Every Game: Good Bet, Bad Bet
by George Monroy - 5/22/2014

The start of the 2014 NFL season is still over three months away, yet that has not stopped Cantor Gaming from releasing spreads for every single game of the season—excluding Week 17 because teams may rest players. Week 1 and games of the year lines have been out for quite some time. Now that the rest of the NFL betting picture has been filled in, bettors can finally start taking a closer look at the 2014 lines and figure where the value is for each week.

An Early Look at Week 1 NFL Odds in the NFC East
by Dave Schwab - 5/21/2014

Last NFL season I did a brief weekly preview of all the games in the NFC East along with my “NFC East Pick of the Week” using Doc’s Sports Unit Betting System. My goal before the season started was to return a profit of $1,000 on my picks, but I blew that number away with a record of 13-4 that provided a profit of $3,470 on a $100 wager.

Most Surprising Early NFL Lines for 2014-15 Season
by Trevor Whenham - 5/21/2014

Cantor Gaming has already, impressively, released lines for every game on the NFL schedule throughout the regular season. At first glance, there are seven lines over the first six weeks that stand out to me as being particularly surprising:

2014 NFL Odds: Taking a Closer Look at the Year’s Double-Digit Spreads
by George Monroy - 5/20/2014

In the NFL double-digit spreads can provide some of the best betting value in the sport. Many times teams will be so unevenly-matched that even a 14-point spread could have value on the favorite side simply because lines are rarely larger than two touchdowns. Other times underdogs have all the value because a single touchdown can erase seven points off the scoreboard in a hurry.

NFL Odds and Predictions: Rookie Quarterbacks in 2014
by Alan Matthews - 5/16/2014

I don't know about you, but I hated that the NFL moved its draft back a few weeks into May. Alas, it's probably here to stay. The league wants to own as much of the offseason calendar as possible, and by moving this back it adds a few more weeks of mock drafts, rumors, etc. It really got to the point of overkill, but the ratings were off the charts all last weekend, and that's all the NFL cares about. That it's two fewer weeks for rookies to learn with their teams apparently is irrelevant.

NFL Odds: Games of the Year Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 5/15/2014

The NFL schedule was released, the 2014 draft came and went, and the lines for the year’s biggest games have already been posted—outside of training camp beginning, the only thing left to do is actually sit down and watch some games. Unfortunately, that is still a few months away, but what we can do is begin obsessing over the must-see matchups on the schedule and go over the impact they will have one each team.

NFL Odds to Win Division with Picks and Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 5/14/2014

Now that the NFL Draft is behind us, we can start looking forward to the regular season. It’s still a long time away, but there are no major obstacles between here and the regular season. That means that we can start to speculate with reasonable accuracy about what the teams will look like. The LVH SuperBook has released odds for each team to win their division. Here’s a look at those odds with picks and predictions of where the value lies in each division:

2014 NFL Draft Grades
by Robert Ferringo - 5/12/2014

The general football-loving public still has some pretty clear misconceptions about how the NFL Draft works and how successful teams approach the annual pro football meat market. And the public’s ignorance is fueled by the worthless bloviating of gasbags like the ones on ESPN all weekend.

NFL Betting: An Early Look at Week 1 Lines
by Darin Zank - 5/8/2014

Week 1 is led off by what should be a doozy of a Thursday night opener, a rematch of that epic Seahawks-Packers debacle of a couple Septembers ago. It also features a classic grizzled vet-vs.-young gun matchup, a renewal of a great rivalry from the not-too-distant past, a couple of key divisional bouts and another Monday night double-header.

Sports Betting Insights: Handicapping NFL Draft First-Round Prop Bet Odds
by Dave Schwab - 5/7/2014

The NFL remains the most popular choice when it comes to betting on sports. Even though it is early May, it remains a perfect time to cash in on a few NFL Draft prop bets as released by BetOnline. The opening round of this year’s event will take place this Thursday night, and the draft will continue through this Saturday.

2014 NFL Draft Prop Bet Odds with Picks and Predictions
by George Monroy - 5/5/2014

The 2014 NFL Draft is set to steal back the attention of the sports world, if only for one night, this Thursday, May 8 at 8:00 p.m. EST. The Houston Texans will be on the clock first with the No. 1 pick, while St. Louis, Jacksonville, Cleveland and Oakland will round out the top five. There will also be no shortage of storylines and intriguing draft prospects throughout the night.