3 Best NFL Preseason Week 1 Bets and Props for Saturday 8/9/25

We've got the primary slate of NFL preseason openers on deck Saturday, meaning the fun debuts for Travis Hunter in Jacksonville, Justin Fields in a New York Jets jersey, and the litany of rookie that the Tennessee Titans brought in, including No. 1 overall pick Cameron Ward.

Last night was a good reminder to take it easy betting preseason action. A serious head injury caused Detroit Lions-Atlanta Falcons to be suspended early right around the total. These teams aren't playing for these results, so it's worth remembering.

Most of these teams have also joint practiced all week, meaning defensive familiarity is there -- especially considering the playbooks are vanilla. The totals are low for a reason.

After accounting for those intricacies, who's playing, and more, which bets stand out across Saturday's games in FanDuel Sportsbook's NFL betting odds? Let's check it out.

NFL Preseason Week 1 Betting Picks

Steelers at Jaguars

Over 36.5 Points (-120)

Travis Hunter won't play a ton of this one on both sides, but I still like offense in tonight's battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Will Howard could get a good chunk of the action for Pittsburgh tonight, and he was a top-70 player on my draft board after a scorching end to his final collegiate season. Kenneth Gainwell and Trey Sermon are battling for a crucial RB3 role for the team as experienced veterans, too, when Jacksonville didn't really address defensive line depth in the draft despite being numberFire's 27th-ranked schedule-adjusted rush D last year. I see it as a key weakness for them.

Jacksonville is aiming to start hot with Trevor Lawrence and Brian Thomas Jr. playing in what should be a juiced crowd for Hunter's debut. I'm not too worried about a Coen offense putting up points with two quarterbacks, John Wolford and Nick Mullens, having tremendous experience in the system.

I think the public might see the Steelers brand and click "under" here, but most of their top-shelf talents won't suit up.

Cowboys at Rams

Cowboys Over 16.5 Points (-138)

We already saw Joe Milton III ball out in a meaningless Week 18 affair to earn him this job. It's likely not lost on Milton what this opportunity means, too.

The quarterback has drawn high praise at camp thus far, and highlights and/or explosive plays are just what you need to target preseason overs when, often, the inexperienced players can crush drives with penalties or mistakes before they even start.

Meanwhile, this Los Angeles Rams pass defense fits the same formula as Jacksonville's rush defense. It wasn't good last year (25th) and didn't add any parts in the draft. But, it goes even a step further that coordinator Chris Shula is the same, too.

When the Dallas Cowboys are in L.A., they usually have the crowd. I'm not sure how much I trust Dallas defensively here, but Milton is likely good for a highlight or two.

Chiefs at Cardinals

Cardinals +2.5 (+100)

I think this line exists solely because when the Kansas City Chiefs and Arizona Cardinals are lined up next to each other, it makes bettors physically ill to fade the defending AFC Champions.

We also got word Patrick Mahomes is good for a quarter, but that's just 25% of what's required for a full-game spread. The Chiefs have also won consecutive visits to Phoenix in preseason action by a total of 35 points since 2021, so that might be history influencing this line. Those teams were very different, though.

Arizona's draft skewed heavily defensively, and most of those guys will play tonight. The team also just has Clayton Tune behind backup Jacoby Brissett on the roster in Tune's third straight season with the Cardinals, and I tend to back these extremely experienced backups in their respective systems. We've seen Tune attempts 14 live bullets for Arizona out of necessity in recent seasons.

Could a Super Bowl hangover start this early? Well, the last three Super Bowl losers went a combined 1-5-3 in preseason the following season. That weird amount of ties spooked me into taking the points versus moneyline (+125).

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