Summer is here, and with far fewer daily sporting events to bet, it’s time for a lot of us to lookahead to football futures. Let’s start with an NFL play on DraftKings Sportsbook that caught my eye for the upcoming season.
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25263747/IMG_9722.jpeg)
Bet at a top rated Sportsbook!
View the latest odds and bet online legally at a top rated Sportsbook! Place a bet now at DraftKings Sportsbook!*
*Odds and lines are for illustrative purposes only.
NFC South Division Winner: New Orleans Saints (+115)
2-units
This is going to be one of the weaker divisions in football, as was the case last season. None of the teams in the NFC South could crack .500 in 2022, with the Tom Brady-led Bucs finishing 8-9 and making a Wild Card exit. Of course, Brady is now officially retired, and the drop-off to Baker Mayfield and/or Kyle Trask should come with some major struggles.
Every other team in the division finished at 7-10 last season, which leaves us with the question — which team improves the most in 2023?
Tampa has a win total of 6.5, and I agree with the projection of a major step backwards. So do the division odds, priced at +750. The Panthers and Falcons present interesting cases to take the next step, but both have young and inexperienced quarterback play stepping into the spotlight. Pair that with some shaky defenses, and it’s going to be tough to trust either of those squads.
The Panthers will put No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young under center, but he is stepping into a better situation than most top picks. Generally speaking, you are usually looking at a team that won just a couple of games in the year prior, whereas Carolina moved up from No. 9 to use to top selection. However, in doing so, the Panthers also gave away some weapons, leaving little for Young to operate with. While this team gained some momentum down the stretch in 2022, beating teams like the Seahawks and Lions, it now has to start from scratch, which could result in another slow start.
Somehow, the Falcons are probably the toughest competition for New Orleans. Atlanta also gained some momentum towards the end of last season, but Desmond Ridder still only started a few games. He still has a ton to learn at the position, and while there are offensive weapons around him, the defense should be abysmal. With another season using a top-10 pick on a non-WR skill position player, the defense continues grow larger holes that need to be addressed. I doubt Ridder will be able to keep up on the scoreboard with the deficits his defense leaves him in this season.
That brings us to the Saints, who have been through plenty of quarterback options since the departure of Drew Brees. After struggling with Andy Dalton (and a little bit of Jameis Winston), New Orleans made the move to bring in Derek Carr. By no means am I a Carr fan, but even us haters will admit that he’s an upgrade at the position.
Things didn’t go Carrs way in the AFC West, but keep in mind, his fellow quarterback competition within the division last season was Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Russell Wilson. If Trask were to beat out Mayfield in Tampa, we could be looking at three first-year starters as Carr’s competition this year.
Carr should be able to get more out of a solid group of receivers, and the offense added to the ground game with Jamaal Williams. While I give New Orleans the nod offensively in the division, the defense is what should separate this team. The rest of the division is relatively soft on D, while the Saints have a pretty solid unit.
Nobody in the division has all that tough of a schedule (Tampa is the toughest), but If the Saints are just an average team in the NFC, they should have no problem going over .500 with the cakewalk in front of them.
The Saints actually don’t play a single team with a win total higher than their own this season, and just five total against teams posted at higher than 7.5. Two of those games are in division against the Falcons (8.5), and then the Saints host the Jaguars (9.5) and Lions (9.5), while traveling to the Vikings (8.5). Simply put, there aren’t any games entering the season that we can mark down as automatic losses — the Saints should have a chance to be in every game.
I feel we should actually be laying a little bit of juice on a team like the Saints, given the rest of the competition in the NFC South. At +115, I like New Orleans to come out on top, and they could have the potential to still do so even if they finished the season under their win total at just a game over .500.
Place your NFL bets at DraftKings Sportsbook and bet online by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app.
Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game.
All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
The contents contained in this article do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment.
