NFL Week 1 is finally here, which means the offseason has officially stopped pretending anyone cares about preseason depth charts.
Smalls is joined by Sam Wagman of Sidelines and Footballguys, formerly of Sports Illustrated, for an early Week 1 betting board led by Thursday night’s 49ers vs. Rams matchup in Australia. The Rams enter as favorites, but Sam is not buying every bit of the hype. He points to Kyle Shanahan’s history against Sean McVay and a particularly rude Super Bowl trend: none of the 20 teams to open a season at 5-to-1 or shorter have gone on to win it all.
Then come the props. Smalls likes Brock Purdy to use his legs against the Rams pass rush, while Sam fades Christian McCaffrey’s longest rush. They find another angle on CMC through the passing game, target Blake Corum for an explosive run and back Davante Adams to clear his longest reception number.
The Week 1 board keeps moving from there. Sam likes David Montgomery against Buffalo and Jayden Daniels to stay under his passing-yard total against Philadelphia. Smalls backs DeVonta Smith for a long reception and Cam Ward to throw an interception against a Jets defense that somehow went all of last season without one. Colston Loveland and Cade Otton round out the tight end props.
Football is back. Rational decision-making has about three more days to live.
And because it is Week 1, everyone is undefeated, every take feels brilliant, and nobody has yet deleted a betting slip.
