FOOTBALL NFL ARTICLES

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the Indianapolis Colts at this point of the offseason. For the third straight year, they have added a veteran quarterback, and the general consensus is that this one will be a bigger success than either of the previous two signal callers. Indianapolis has mostly everything else in place to contend for a Super Bowl, so there has been some a... 

Mike Tomlin has yet to finish under .500 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomlin has been on the sidelines for Pittsburgh since 2007, and the Steelers have consistently been one of the most competitive teams in the league under his watch. This is the dawn of a new era though as Ben Roethlisberger has hung up his cleats. For the first time in his tenure, there are major conce... 

The team with the biggest question mark ahead of the 2022 season is the Cleveland Browns. It appeared that Cleveland finally had a franchise quarterback shortly after a grand jury declined to indict Deshaun Watson on sexual assault charges in March. The Browns quickly moved to win the bidding war for Watson, dealing three first-round picks, a third-round pick, and two fourth-ro... 

The 2021 season was a dream for the Cincinnati Bengals. This franchise hadn’t won a playoff game since 1990, and the Bengals ripped that monkey off their back in a big way. They knocked off the Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans, and Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC, and they had a lead in the fourth quarter before falling to the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. Howeve... 

The Baltimore Ravens finished the 2021 campaign at the bottom of the AFC North for the first time in the John Harbaugh era. Baltimore finished with its second-worst record in the last 14 seasons, but the Ravens were extremely unfortunate. They were 8-3 in late November before Lamar Jackson suffered a season-ending injury in Week 14 against the Cleveland Browns. The Ravens proceeded to lose their last six games of the regular season, yet five of those six losses came by a total of 10 points. That makes Baltimore a prime turnaround candidate in 2022. ... 

The New York Jets have the longest playoff drought of any team in the NFL. It’s been 11 years since the Jets were in the playoffs, and that’s five years longer than any other team in the league. Robert Saleh was hired to change all that, but the Jets didn’t show much improvement in his first season at the helm. They improved from 2-14 to 4-13, yet they still finished a distant fourth... 

It’s been 22 years since the Miami Dolphins won a playoff game. Miami has only been to the playoffs twice in the last two decades, as this has generally been a mediocre team that never seems to hit rock bottom. The Dolphins decided to shake things up three years ago by trading away a lot of their players for draft picks, and that helped lead to consecutive winning seasons for the f... 

After nearly two decades of unparalleled success, the New England Patriots are just another mediocre team. The Patriots won the AFC East 17 times in 19 seasons from 2001 to 2019, and they set a new standard for dynasties with six Super Bowls in that stretch.Unfortunately, the loss of Tom Brady has really affected this franchise. Although Bill Belichick remains the great... 

The oddsmakers have made the Buffalo Bills the favorites to win Super Bowl LVII. Although Buffalo is one of the most hard luck franchises in the NFL, the Bills were arguably the best team in the NFL in 2021 and only a miracle comeback by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs kept the franchise out of the AFC Championship Game. Buffalo improved in the offseason, and many pundits ... 

A player hasn’t led the NFL in receiving yards in back-to-back seasons since Calvin Johnson dominated the NFL in the early 2010s. Megatron is now enshrined in Canton, and Cooper Kupp would love to join him. However, it will be very difficult for Kupp to lead the NFL in receiving yards for a second straight season. The Los Angeles Rams have a plethora of talented receivers for Matthew Stafford to target, and they want to run the ball more in order to wear down opposing front sevens.... 

There’s a clear hierarchy in the NFL when it comes to the top running backs in the league. Jonathan Taylor and Derrick Henry are in their own tier, and Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb are in the next tier below them. It’s hard to see anyone else leading the NFL in rushing aside from those four players, so that’s who you should look at when it comes to betting on the NFL’s rushing leader in 2022. ... 

All of the favorites to be named NFL MVP are quarterbacks. That’s because each of the last nine winners of this award have been signal callers, and voters generally agree on a QB to be the MVP while choosing a running back or receiver to be Offensive Player of the Year. There isn’t a non-quarterback with odds below 25-1 to be named MVP, as it will take a record-breaking season coupled with down years from many quarterbacks for anyone else to be named MVP. ... 

The GOAT is looking to make even more history after breaking his own record as the oldest quarterback to lead the NFL in passing yards. Tom Brady led the NFL with 4,577 passing yards when he was 40 years old in 2017, posting the best numbers we have seen from a quarterback that age. Brady shattered that mark in 2021 though, throwing for 5,316 yards with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the age of 44. He has led the NFL in passing four times in his career, and he is one of just three active quarterbac... 

When betting on the NFL Comeback Player of the Year, it’s important to look at quarterbacks. A quarterback has won this award in four straight seasons, and 10 of the last 14 winners of this award have been QBs. Derrick Henry is looking to buck the mold though and become the first running back to be named Comeback Player of the Year since Garrison Hearst won the award in 2001. ... 

Although running backs have won the vast majority of NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year accolades, it’s a new age in the league. Quarterbacks are now the stars of the show, and that has led to signal callers winning OROY more often than any other position group over the last dozen years. We have seen six quarterbacks, four running backs, and two wide rece... 

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft is not the favorite to be named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, and he isn’t even one of the players with the five best odds to win this award. The Jacksonville Jaguars are hoping that their internal scouting is better than what the oddsmakers and general public believes, but their recent draft history ... 

Bill Belichick is one of the three greatest coaches of all-time alongside Don Shula and George Halas, but he is not among the favorites to be named NFL Coach of the Year. Neither is Andy Reid although the Kansas City Chiefs have been to the AFC Championship Game for four straight seasons. That’s just how it goes for the top coaches in the league, as it typically takes a monu... 

There hasn’t been a back-to-back NFL Offensive Player of the Year winner since Marshall Faulk won this award three straight times from 1999 to 2001. That makes it unlikely that Cooper Kupp claims the honor again, but he is the co-favorite alongside Jonathan Taylor ahead of the 2022 season. Kupp should feature in the Los Angeles Rams offense and put up big nu... 

Two previous NFL Defensive Player of the Year award winners are among the favorites to be named the 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Aaron Donald is the best defensive player in the NFL and a three-time winner, and he will always be among the top contenders to earn this honor. Last year’s winner T.J. Watt is among the favorites too, although the Pittsb... 

With the 2022 NFL Draft now in the rearview mirror, I thought it would be a good time to see how the betting markets reacted to what all 30 front offices did through the weekend. To do that, I took a look at what the odds to win Super Bowl LVII were at online sportsbooks heading into the draft and compared them to what they looked like early Monday morning. Save for the San Francisco ... 

Quarterbacks flew off the board in last year’s draft. In all, a total of five field generals were selected over the course of the first 15 selections. This year, I don’t think a single one will hear their name called once the first 15 picks have been announced. As such, it comes with little surprise to see online sportsbooks lining total amount of QB’s selected in the first round at 3.5 with absurd -362 juice attached to the under. Personally, I wouldn’t be shocked if at most two quarterbacks he... 

Teams atop of the draft order have a number of needs. The owners of the No. 1 pick – the Jacksonville Jaguars – need help at WR, EDGE, and interior OL after making some moves in the offseason. The Detroit Lions desperately need help at the safety, EDGE, and WR positions. The Houston Texans overall roster is in flux with new head coach Lovie Smith needing ample support added to the secondary, defensive line, and backfield. As such, online sportsbooks look to be of the belief that all three teams ... 

With front offices throwing absurd big money contracts at wide receivers this past offseason, it’s become quite clear just how important the position is in this day and age of the NFL. As such, I’m thinking a healthy amount of pass catchers will be going off the board in the first round of 2022 NFL Draft betting. When I touted the over of 5.5 wide receivers going off the board in the first round last week, the vig at online sportsbooks attached to the high side of the impost clocked in at an eye-opening -180. Fast forward a week and it now stands at an alarming -280! I hope you locked you locked that wager in when suggested. Current drafty position odds relay the idea that the first wide receiver coming off the board will be either Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson or USC’s Drake London with both players’ draft position clocking in at 10.5. I personally believe the former is the better choice, and the recent odds movement dictates as such. No joke, another 60 cents was added to the vig on the under of Wilson’s draft position prop as I wrote this article. Come draft day, it wouldn’t shock me if the Buckeyes premiere pass catcher made a mockery of the impost regardless! ... 

Last year’s NFL draft was loaded with high-end quarterback talent evidenced by five of the first 15 picks coming from the position. An area of weakness in the draft class came up front on the edges of the defensive line. It took until pick No. 12 for an edge rusher to get selected. It was none other than Micah Parsons who would go on to rejuvenate the Dallas Cowboys defense and win some hardware along the way. The same can’t and won’t be said about this year’s draft class with it loaded with edg... 

A bulk of my position total pre-draft wagers has forced me to lay a ton of chalk to back the sides I like. That will once again be the case when it comes to the total amount of quarterbacks drafted in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Online sportsbooks currently have the under of 3.5 players juiced at a whopping -335. Last year’s draft saw five QBs snagged in the first round. The number to beat then was lined at 4.5. NFL bettors that hit the over of that prop were able to cash in after Roger Goodell announced the first 15 selections. Personally, I’m not sure this year’s QB crop will find five quarterbacks selected through the first two rounds! Make it a point to hunt out the best rate of return. If your out allows for buying these types of wagers up or down, buy the total QB prop down to three or 2.5 to set up more satisfying plus-money returns. It seriously wouldn’t shock me if only one field general was selected. At most, I foresee two going off the board over the course of the first 32 picks. ...