Smartest NFL Betting Picks for 2018 Regular Season

Looking ahead at all the NFL betting options for the upcoming 2018 season is enough to make your head spin. On any given week, there are 14 to 16 individual games to wager on, not to mention all the different ways to bet on them. Then, you also have to think about division winners, O/U win totals, potential MVP winners, and a host of other bets that can make settling on one quite difficult. I like to sit down and look ahead at the season well in advance so that I can come up with some logical picks that should end with winning tickets. Let’s take a look at a few smart picks that also seem relatively safe if such a thing exists in sports betting.

Smartest NFL Betting Picks for 2018 Regular Season

Patriots to win the AFC East

• NFL Betting Odds to Win AFC East: -875

Agreed, you are not going to get particularly tasty odds here, but this is about as close to a lock as you can possibly get. There is a lot of chatter about the Patriots potentially taking a step back this year, but they are also probably still going to have double-digit wins, which will be more than enough in a division that does not offer up a legitimate challenger.

Jacksonville Jaguars OVER 8 Wins

• NFL Betting Odds for Total Wins: O 8 (-130) / U 8 (+100)

It does seem a little odd that a team that made it to the AFC Championship Game, and who came within a play of winning, should only be on the board at O/U 8 wins this season. The most likely reason they are there is that most people are still not sold on Blake Bortles as a starting QB in the NFL. I’m not either, but I think he can take his success from last season and carry it over into this year. I also really like that Jags defense, which is why 9 or 10 wins, or perhaps more, does not seem out of the question.

DeShaun Watson for MVP

• NFL Betting Odds for MVP: +1200

Okay, so this is the first real longshot pick here, but it’s a bet that certainly seems worth making. We only got a small sample of his skill set before he got injured last season, but what we saw looked great. The Texans should make the leap from 4 wins in 2017 to double digits this year, which is one stat that is going to look good for Watson. They also have a rather favorable schedule, which means he will have the opportunity to put up some rather tasty numbers. At +1200, this is a bet that I am all over.

Los Angeles Rams to win NFC West

• NFL Betting Odds to Win NFC West: -150

The Rams are sitting at -150 to win the division this year, which is a price that is probably not going to move in your favor as the season progresses. The Cardinals are going to be poor this season, while the Seahawks look set to take a big step backward. That leaves the 49ers as the main competition for the Rams, and while Jimmy G looked great in his role as the starter there last season, this is a whole new year. The Rams were a juggernaut in the regular season in 2017, and they have made some moves to get stronger and better. I think they run away with the West.