2024 NFL Preseason Week 2 Spreads, Moneylines and Totals
The second week of the Preseason will serve the role of what Week 3 of preseason used to fulfill. Back when the preseason was four weeks, the third week was the most important. Regular players would see the most amount of playing time. The late great Hall of Famer John Madden said that the next to last preseason game was the one that was most treated like a regular season game. Still, there will be plenty of substituting and lineup rotation in Week 2 preseason games. Live in-game betting will see a surge in action as a result of this, changing players on the fly.
One of the most interesting games on the Week 2 preseason card is the matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Chicago Bears. Of course, Chicago will be giving quarterback Caleb Williams, the first overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, plenty of snaps. The risk is that Williams could have his career and confidence damaged by not being brought around slowly. Previous Bears QB Justin Fields, taken in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, was thrust right into the pit. Fields did not have the surrounding cast that could give him a helping hand and protect him. Now Fields is a castoff member of the Pittsburgh Steelers as a backup to another failed journeyman, Russell Wilson.
NFL Betting Odds
NFL Preseason Week 2 Betting Lines
The Cleveland Browns will host the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2 of the preseason. Both teams have QB difficulties to address. The Vikings have moved on from Kirk Cousins, who arrived with great fanfare from the Washington Redskins several years ago but was never quite able to get the Vikings into the Super Bowl. Cousins is now with the Atlanta Falcons.
In his place arrives Sam Darnold, who was the third overall pick of the New York Jets in the 2018 NFL Draft. Darnold has been a journeyman who previously played for the Jets, Carolina Panthers, and San Francisco 49ers. By any reasonable measure, Cousins is a much more accomplished QB than Darnold.
Although Darnold will open training camp as the number one QB on the Vikings depth chart, 2024 first round draft pick JJ McCarthy could easily end up as the starter. McCarthy is coming off a national championship season at Michigan, where he played for one of the great QB whisperers in football, Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh raves about McCarthy’s NFL capability. It stands to reason that if McCarthy can get up to speed quickly, the Vikings will turn to him as the QB of the future.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Browns made a ridiculous trade in which they overpaid The Houston Texans to receive Deshaun Watson, who has been in trouble for the past few years. In fact, Watson has not been a regular starter since 2020. In the past two seasons with Cleveland, Watson played six games each season. Ironically, it was elderly journeyman Joe Flacco who took the Browns to the 2023 NFL Playoffs. Flacco has since departed, leaving Watson as the starter.
The Browns had better hope that Watson regains his past form. That is because the backup option is no option at all. Interception machine Jameis Winson is second on the depth chart. Winston’s career never took off after he imploded at the end with Florida State.
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