Opening NFL Lines For Every Game Of The 2021 Season

Select sportsbooks have rolled out “first-look” lines for each game over all 18 weeks. It’s worth noting that bets on these early lines have limits in contrast to those in the regular season. This is due to the amount of risk at play for sportsbooks, considering how far in advance these odds are set. Specific game lines naturally could undergo significant shifts over the coming months depending on a multitude of factors such as key injuries and teams exceeding expectations or underachieving relative to preseason expectations.

With the first 18-week campaign in NFL history on tap, let’s take a week-by-week look at some of the most noteworthy contests and pro football betting angles that await in the coming season.

Week 1

Game lines for Weeks 1-17 are provided by BetMGM.

It would be difficult to imagine a more sensational start to the season than a Cowboys versus Buccaneers matchup on Opening Night that should feature a returning Dak Prescott doing battle with Tom Brady. The Sunday portion of the slate also features spectacular Steelers-Bills, Seahawks-Colts and Browns-Chiefs battles. Meanwhile, storylines abound in a Jets-Panthers matchup that will see the recently-traded Sam Darnold face his old squad, a Jaguars-Texans clash that will mark the regular season NFL debuts of Urban Meyer, Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne, and a Packers-Saints showdown that will see New Orleans operating without Drew Brees.

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Week 2

The Dolphins, fresh off a second straight season-opening battle against the Patriots, will get an early litmus test against the defending AFC East champion Bills. Matthew Stafford will also get to test his road mettle in a Rams uniform versus the Colts, while the Titans-Seahawks and Cowboys-Chargers late Sunday afternoon tussles feature two 2020 playoff teams in the former and a pair of clubs that are striving to get back to the postseason in the latter. The Sunday Night Football matchup is elite as well -- the Chiefs and Ravens meet in Baltimore as John Harbaugh’s squad tries to avenge a 34-20 loss in Week 3 of last season.

Week 3

The week features a good balance of divisional and conference matchups, with the Titans-Colts, Chargers-Chiefs, Buccaneers-Rams and Packers-49ers showdowns the top examples. Additionally, the Bengals-Steelers AFC North clash should make for an intriguing test for Joe Burrow as he continues his quest to bounce back from last year’s ACL tear, while the Eagles-Cowboys Monday night finale will feature the first of what should be many Jalen Hurts-Dak Prescott battles.

Week 4

A week heavy on intriguing quarterback head-to-head matchups begins with a Thursday night battle between the last two No. 1 overall picks in Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow. Then, Sunday’s early window is highlighted by a Colts-Dolphins battle in South Florida that should serve as a good gauge of how both Carson Wentz and Tua Tagovailoa are faring in key seasons for each quarterback. Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts also meet up for the first time in the Chiefs-Eagles interconference duel. However, the game that will undoubtedly receive a Super Bowl-level of hype is the Sunday Night Football return of Tom Brady to New England as a member of the Buccaneers, a contest that will undoubtedly be fascinating to watch unfold irrespective of each team’s record. In a nod to how competitive a game is expected, the defending Super Bowl champion Bucs are just 3.5-point favorites in the first-look line.

Week 5

The Rams and Seahawks kick off the week Thursday night in Matthew Stafford’s first taste of the heated divisional rivalry. Other noteworthy matchups include an Aaron Rodgers-Joe Burrow battle in Cincinnati, a Sunshine State showdown between the Dolphins and Buccaneers in Tampa and a Bills-Chiefs AFC Championship Game rematch that will unfold on Sunday Night Football.

Week 6

The bye weeks begin later than usual in this inaugural 17-game season. The Falcons, Saints, Jets and 49ers are idle, but the abbreviated slate gets an electrifying start with a Buccaneers-Eagles conference clash on Thursday night, and it also includes Cardinals-Browns and Seahawks-Steelers interconference tilts that should feature some stellar quarterback play. The week doesn’t wrap up in shabby fashion by any means either – the Bills visit the Titans on Monday night in a battle of teams looking to topple the Chiefs in the AFC.

Bye weeks: Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers

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Week 7

There’s a bit of a drain on star power due to the teams on bye in this week – the Bills, Cowboys, Vikings, Steelers, Chargers and Jaguars are all off. Nevertheless, a Chiefs-Titans matchup in the early window shapes up as a game of heavy interest, while the Eagles-Raiders late-afternoon contest and the Colts-49ers and Saints-Seahawks week-ending primetime battles will also certainly be ones to watch. There should also be a bit of intrigue attached to a Lions-Rams clash out west in the late-afternoon window Sunday, as Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford face their old squads.

Bye weeks: Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, LA Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 8

As the leaves begin to turn, the Packers and Cardinals kick things off on Thursday night in the desert. Then, the Dolphins hope their trip to Buffalo is more treat than trick in the early window on Halloween Sunday, while other standout divisional showdowns include Steelers-Browns and Titans-Colts. A Buccaneers-Saints tussle in the late afternoon sees Tampa Bay try to secure its first regular-season win against New Orleans with Tom Brady at the helm, while a Cowboys-Vikings matchup makes for an excellent Sunday night main event.

Bye weeks: Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders

Week 9

The Lions, Seahawks, Bucs and Washington make up the week’s idle teams, and on paper the early part of the week is a bit light on attention-getting games. However, the late-afternoon window/Sunday night game makes up for it, with Chargers-Eagles, Packers-Chiefs, Cardinals-49ers and Titans-Rams battles on the schedule.

Bye weeks: Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Football Team

Week 10

A Ravens-Dolphins Thursday night affair starts off the first football week of November, with Baltimore notably just a 3-point favorite on the early line as Lamar Jackson returns to his hometown. The closest projected games by oddsmakers at the moment fall toward the late Sunday window, although the early Saints-Titans and Browns-Patriots matchups feature the hosts and visitors as sub-3-point favorites, respectively. Vikings-Chargers, Seahawks-Packers and Rams-49ers contests, the latter on Monday night, particularly catch the eye and currently see each home team as a first-look 3-point favorite.

Bye weeks: Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, New York Giants

Week 11

The Patriots-Falcons Thursday night opener could certainly be interesting depending on where both teams are at this point in the season, but there are some pre-Thanksgiving treats on tap Sunday in the form of Colts-Bills, Packers-Vikings and Saints-Eagles in the early window. Then, the late-afternoon showcase is highlighted by a Cowboys-Chiefs extravaganza at Arrowhead Stadium that marks the first Dak Prescott-Patrick Mahomes meeting ever. The opening line sees KC as just better than a touchdown favorite in a game that should see an avalanche of betting interest. Additionally, the Cardinals-Seahawks and Chargers-Steelers games that also help close out the Sunday portion of the Week 11 slate aren’t exactly duds.

Bye weeks: Denver Broncos, LA Rams

Week 12

The annual three-game Thanksgiving slate gives us a divisional appetizer followed by co-interconference main courses. The Bears and Lions kick things off in the traditional early game in Detroit, while Raiders-Cowboys and Bills-Saints battles constitute the remainder of the day’s action. Sunday gives us plenty of tasty leftovers, with a Buccaneers-Colts game that carries a Pick 'Em opening line and a Rams-Packers conference clash in Lambeau as two highlights of the main Sunday slate before a Browns-Ravens AFC North showdown closes out the day. The Chiefs and Cardinals notably get Thanksgiving week as byes as well, a quirk of the new 17-game season.

Bye weeks: Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs

Week 13

Even with the extra week of games beginning this season, the flipping of the calendar to December still equates to the playoff chase beginning in earnest. It’s therefore fitting the schedule starts with a Cowboys-Saints Thursday night tussle in the Big Easy, a game that actually has a first-look line of New Orleans as 3.5-point favorites. The Sunday slate features a handful of particularly elevated first-look spreads, but the Ravens-Steelers and 49ers-Seahawks divisional matchups that close out the day’s action are unsurprisingly projected to be much tighter.

Bye weeks: Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Tennessee Titans

Week 14

The Colts, Dolphins, Patriots and Eagles take some late-season bye weeks, but there are certainly some games to keep an eye on throughout the ledger. The Steelers and Vikings cut the ribbon on the week with an interesting interconference Thursday night meeting, while the 49ers-Bengals, Ravens-Browns, Bills-Buccaneers and Rams-Cardinals contests should all draw in plenty of interest and very likely carry significant postseason implications for each team.

Bye weeks: Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots

Week 15

With bye weeks finally concluded, we’re back to a full supply of games, beginning with the Chiefs’ visit to the Chargers on Thursday night. It’s tough to predict how many postseason-relevant games there will be this far in advance; however, it’s safe to assume that the Raiders-Browns, Patriots-Colts, WFT-Eagles and Titans-Steelers meetings could be games in which Wild Card spots are being heavily contested. Additionally, the Seahawks-Rams and Saints-Buccaneers late-afternoon/Sunday night matchups may ultimately go a long way toward deciding division crowns.

Week 16

It’s a long Christmas weekend in the NFL, which means games over the course of four days. The 49ers-Titans interconference battle Thursday night serves as a fine way to kick off the festivities, while a Saturday Christmas Day doubleheader consists of Browns-Packers and Colts-Cardinals marquee matchups. Ravens-Bengals and Steelers-Chiefs contests are among the noteworthy Sunday games, and the Dolphins and Saints will close out the ledger in what could be a crucial contest for both Monday night.

Week 17

The Thursday Night Football schedule is done for the season, meaning a robust Sunday slate is in store as the calendar flips to 2022. With playoff implications sure to abound, the most noteworthy matchups from a preseason perspective appear to include Cardinals-Cowboys, Dolphins-Titans, Raiders-Colts and Rams-Ravens. The Browns-Steelers AFC North faceoff that closes out the week Monday night at Heinz Field could also have a seismic impact on the division and conference playoff picture overall, with oddsmakers notably making this one a Pick 'Em in their first line.

Week 18

Odds provided for Week 18 are from the Las Vegas SuperBook.

The grand finale of the “biggest season ever” will likely be very similar to every other final week of the regular season in recent memory – impossible to prognosticate this far in advance. As customary, certain teams with locked-in fates beyond this week are sure to rest players and a number of stars will inevitably be out with injuries by this point in the campaign. Nevertheless, oddsmakers have taken their stab, with two of the four first-look spreads above five points - notably involving 2020 non-contenders the Jets and Texans. The Week 18 schedule is exclusively constituted by divisional games, with the league hoping to tee up as many meaningful contests as possible.