Updated NFL Week 1 Odds (August 1st)

Updated NFL Week 1 Odds (August 1st)

Written by on August 1, 2016

Every team in the NFL has now reported to training camp and the exhibition season starts this Sunday already with the Hall of Fame Game. There has been some significant news around the NFL in recent days and it has affected some lines for Week 1. Here’s a quick glance at a few games and their current NFL odds.

Let’s Take a Look at the Updated NFL Week 1 Odds (August 1st)

Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets (+2 in NFL betting)

This game was the hardest one to handicap in Week 1 in my opinion because we weren’t sure who the Jets’ starting quarterback was going to be. But now we know: Ryan Fitzpatrick. Most everyone did figure he would eventually re-sign with the team and he did last week. Just hours after the Jets opened training camp without Fitzpatrick, the two sides agreed on a one-year deal worth $12 million and an additional $3 million in incentives. The 33-year- old Fitzpatrick passed for a career-best 3,905 yards and a franchise-record 31 touchdowns in 2015 while leading the Jets to a 10-6 record in their first season under Coach Todd Bowles. Fitzpatrick was acquired from the Houston Texans in March 2015 to essentially serve as a backup to Geno Smith, the Jets’ former second-round draft pick. When Smith’s jaw was broken in a preseason locker-room altercation, Fitzpatrick took the job and kept it. Essentially, it’s one year for $12 million, but a dummy voidable was tacked on to spread the signing bonus ($10 million) over two years for salary-cap purposes. A straight, one-year deal would’ve put the Jets over the cap, requiring them to restructure contracts. Fitz will become a free agent after the season because the contract automatically voids five days after the Super Bowl. The Jets came within one quarter of reaching the playoffs last season. They return 16 starters from that team — a high number in the revolving-door NFL — so there’s absolutely no reason to expect anything less than a playoff berth. Cincinnati was a playoff team last year but was one-and- done yet again, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers. No team previously has ever lost five opening playoff games in a row. The Bengals might open the season without Pro Bowl tight end Tyler Eifert. He’s currently on the PUP list following ankle surgery. Eifert said he’ll have his walking boot removed next week. He remains without a timetable for return, but the goal is to be back “as soon as possible.” After getting hurt in the Pro Bowl, Eifert said he’ll never play in the exhibition again. I like the Bengals here.

San Diego Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs (-7 on NFL odds)

The San Diego Chargers had a pretty awful defense last year so the team pounced on Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa with their first-round pick (No. 3 overall) in this year’s draft. But will Bosa even play Week 1? He’s the only first-round pick who remains unsigned. Bosa and the Chargers are reportedly battling over offset language and signing-bonus distribution. The Chargers view the impasse as “strange,” given that every penny of Bosa’s slotted contract is fully and completely guaranteed. The Chargers are going to pay Bosa almost $26 million over the next four years with a signing bonus of just more than $17 million, because they have to under terms of the collective bargaining agreement. However, the Chargers are not willing to pay Bosa his bonus with the expediency he desires. This isn’t the first Bosa to dig in his heels on the parameters of a rookie contract. Bosa’s father, John, the 16th pick in the 1987 draft, missed virtually all of Miami Dolphins training camp that year, finally agreeing to terms 12 days before the season opener. Bolts coach Mike McCoy is understandably unhappy about his rookie still being gone. “He definitely needs to be out here as a rookie,” McCoy said. “[I don’t have] any update on the status. [GM] Tom [Telesco] made his comments the other day, it’s the same today and we will keep working at that. He needs to be here, everybody needs to be here, especially as a younger player for the installations, playing with your teammates, things like that. We are going to coach the players who are here, and the players who are here did a nice job today.” Kansas City swept the Chargers last year. And I like the Chiefs here.