NFL Preseason Week 1 Odds, Lines, Spreads and Picks

• The lines have been posted for Week 1 of the NFL preseason
• The defending Super Bowl-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers are six-point favorites over the Cincinnati Bengals
• All the odds can be found below along with some best bets for preseason Week 1

A full weekend of NFL preseason games is on tap for the first time since 2019.

All 32 teams will be in action beginning Thursday night. That comes a year after the entire exhibition season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 preseason got underway last Thursday when the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys 16-3 in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton. The table below shows the NFL odds for all 16 upcoming Week 1 games.

NFL Preseason Week 1 Odds

Odds as of August 9th at FanDuel.

Bucs Biggest Favorite

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the biggest favorites in preseason Week 1 as six-point picks over the visiting Cincinnati Bengals.

While that is a significant spread for an exhibition game, it also shows the disparity between the teams. The Buccaneers are coming off a Super Bowl-winning season while the Bengals went 4-11-1 in 2020 for a third straight year of double-digit losses.

Tom Brady certainly helped raise the value of the franchise.

For the 2020 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the biggest one-year increase in value at 29%, according to Forbes.

The arrival of Tom Brady + a Super Bowl win definitely helped! pic.twitter.com/gWa2yYttIC

— TB EGO ✖️ (@TomBradyEgo) August 5, 2021

The second-biggest favorites are the Chicago Bears at 3.5 points at home against the Miami Dolphins. That is a bit of a surprise considering the Bears were 8-8 last season while the Dolphins were 10-6.

Four games are tied for the lowest spread at the week at one point – the Philadelphia Eagles are favored at home over the Steelers, the Tennessee Titans are the choices on the road over the Atlanta Falcons, the Denver Broncos are an away pick over the Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars are home favorites over the Cleveland Browns.

The highest total is 40 points for the Cowboys’ game at the Arizona Cardinals, even though Dallas managed just a field goal in the Hall of Fame Game.

The Cowboys cheerleaders seemed to have a more productive day.

Earlier today, the @DCCheerleaders visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They are in town for Thursday's Hall of Fame Game.#PFHOF21 | @dallascowboys pic.twitter.com/kSDNibw5s1

— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) August 4, 2021

The lowest over/under is 33.5 points for the Houston Texans-Packers matchup in Green Bay. Both teams had offseason quarterback drama as the Texans’ Deshaun Watson and Packers’ Aaron Rodgers were both disgruntled and skipped OTAs and minicamp.

Patriots Surprising Underdog

Even though it is a preseason game, it seems odd to see the New England Patriots as a home underdog against anyone. It seems even odder that they are 2.5-point dogs against the Washington Football Team at 7:30 pm ET, Thursday, at Gillette Stadium.

Yes, both teams were just 7-9 last season. That was good enough for Washington to win the wretched NFC East but bad enough for the Patriots to have their streak of 19 consecutive winning seasons end.

This game, at least on the surface, is more important for Washington as it tries to sort out its quarterback situation following the release of Alex Smith in the offseason. Ryan Fitzpatrick is the favorite to be the starter after being signed as a free agent, but holdovers Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen are also in the mix.

We are T minus three days til the first preseason game and the first player out to the field is … drumroll … Ryan Fitzpatrick, again #WashingtonFootball pic.twitter.com/G2NkjKpTOK

— Mitchell Tischler (@Mitch_Tischler) August 9, 2021

Coach Bill Belichick says there is no QB competition with the Patriots as Cam Newton is the starter despite a lackluster 2020 in his first season replacing Tom Brady. However, first-round draft pick Mac Jones will surely want to make a good impression and the Patriots have two holdover backups in Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer.

This game might be meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but Belichick likely wants to restore a winning culture following last season. The Patriots were 3-1 in the last two preseasons in 2018 and 2019.

The Pick: Patriots +2.5 (-115)

Kneecap Biting Time

Coming off their first trip to the AFC Championship Game since 1993, the visiting Buffalo Bills are 2.5-point favorites over the Detroit Lions at 7 p.m. ET Friday at Ford Field.

First-year Lions coach Dan Campbell has drawn plenty of attention for being an energetic guy. He admits to drinking two 40-ounce cups of coffee each morning and said in his introductory press conference that he wants a team that bites the opponents’ kneecaps.

Detroit Lions HC Dan Campbell has to have the most absurd coffee order of all time.

Two venti coffees from Starbucks with two espresso shots in each is more than 1,100 mg of caffeine.

That's the equivalent of drinking 10 Red Bulls…every single morning.pic.twitter.com/Y1JGZckke3

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) August 4, 2021

However, the Lions have also been double-digit losers for the last three season, including posting a 5-11 mark in 2020 under Matt Patricia. They have a new quarterback for the first time since 2008 after acquiring Jared Goff from the Los Angeles Rams in a trade for Matthew Stafford.

Goff could see some action to get acclimated to his new team but is still learning a new system, so there are bound to be some rough patches. Furthermore, the Lions’ backup QB tandem of David Blough and Tim Boyle is underwhelming.

The Bills aren’t likely to play star quarterback Josh Allen in the first exhibition game. However, they did add Mitchell Trubisky as a backup in the offseason.

Though Trubisky was a major disappointment with the Bears, he led Chicago to the playoffs last season. He has also started 50 games in the NFL and should shine in a game featuring primarily backups.

The Pick: Bills -2.5 (-105)

Zimmer King of Preseason

The Minnesota Vikings quarterback situation has been a mess during the training camp and leading up to their game with the visiting Denver Broncos at 4 pm ET, Saturday, at US Bank Stadium. The Broncos are one-point favorites.

Starter Kirk Cousins has spent time on the COVID-19 list along with backups Kellen Mond and Nate Stanley. That has opened the door for Jake Browning to get plenty of reps with the first team.

Jake Browning to Dan Chisena for a nice throw and catch. pic.twitter.com/TlvaSI3a1n

— vikesinsider (@vikesinsider) August 5, 2021

Browning has impressed coach Mike Zimmer and the staff after spending the last two years on the Vikings’ practice squad. Browning did not get drafted out of college but did lead Washington to the College Football Playoff in 2016.

Incumbent Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater are competing for the Broncos’ starting quarterback job. Both will likely see action in this game but neither has distinguished himself so far during camp and coach Vic Fangio says he isn’t close to making his decision.

One thing to keep in mind is Zimmer takes the preseason seriously. His career record in exhibition games is a lofty 20-5, making the Vikings a good underdog play.

The Pick: Vikings +1 (-105)