DraftKings Unveils Week 1 NFL Betting Odds For The 2021 Season
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The National Football League reigns supreme when it comes to sports betting in America. Therefore, it came as zero shock to see that DraftKings already had the Week 1 betting odds up on their platform just mere minutes after the official Week 1 announcement. Something that might have helped with the relay of information to supply these odds was DraftKings’ official betting partnership with the NFL.
There are some massive games that headline the 2021 Week 1 schedule, including the Cowboys and Buccaneers opening the season on Thursday Night Football. There will also be the Bears and Rams for Sunday Night Football and the Ravens versus the Raiders on Monday Night Football. Note that there is no longer two Monday Night Football games during the opening week of the season.
The Odds
There is plenty of interesting games to talk about when it comes to opening lines, especially four months in advance. The Cowboys are 6.5 underdogs heading into Tampa Bay to start off the season. Bookmakers are expecting a high-octane game as the over/under is already set to 52.5 points.
The largest underdog for Week 1 is the Detroit Lions, who are being given a massive +7.5 spread as they take on the San Francisco 49ers. The Lions currently sit with the second-worst Super Bowl odds, so it comes as no surprise that they are currently projected to be crushed by the 49ers. The moneyline for that game is at -455 for the 49ers and +340 for the Lions.
Sunday Night Football also has quite a massive spread as the Rams and Matt Stafford host the Chicago Bears. The Rams are sitting at -7 for the spread as bookmakers are apparently not convinced by either Andy Dalton or Justin Fields. I do think that this spread is a bit high, and it is interesting how heavily both the Rams and 49ers are favorited going into the season. The NFC West is shaping up to be a blood bath.
Lastly, let us touch on the three closest games for Week 1. The Chargers go in as 1.5 favorites on the road against the Washington Football Team. Then, The Jaguars and Broncos are also both favorited by 1.5 on the road against the Texans and Giants, respectively. All three of these games look to be close on paper, though I am somewhat shocked that the Texans are not bigger underdogs. This may be a hedge by oddsmakers on whether Watson plays or not.
DraftKings
One change you will notice this year on DraftKings is that the logos of each team are present on the weekly odds. This is due to the betting partnership that the NFL and DK entered and adds a nice touch to betting on games.
You can already find all the future bets you can handle for the NFL on DraftKings, including team futures, individual awards, and player totals. There are also some off-season specials that are up, including who will start at QB and Tebow specials.
