NFL Hall of Fame Game Texans vs. Bears:

Our long national nightmare is over! Well, sort of. We have a football game on Thursday, August 1, as the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears participate in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, which serves as the annual preseason kickoff. Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium is the site of this one, which is on the grounds of the hallowed Pro Football Hall of Fame on the roadside of I-77 in Stark County.

Bettors shouldn’t expect to see Caleb Williams, CJ Stroud, Joe Mixon, Stefon Diggs, D’Andre Swift, Keenan Allen, and others, but we do have a lot of interesting players that are fighting for spots on the depth chart, especially at the quarterback position.

 

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NFL Hall of Fame Game Odds

Houston Texans (-1, 32.5) vs. Chicago Bears

Odds current at time of publish on July 30, 10:45 a.m. PT

How to Watch the NFL Hall of Fame Game

Where: ESPN/ABC

When: Thursday, August 1 at 8 p.m. ET

NFL Hall of Fame Game Prediction

As mentioned, many of the big names won’t suit up, but there are still going to be a lot of guys that football fans and bettors are familiar with on the field. Bears QB Tyson Bagent is certainly one of them after he stepped in for Justin Fields last season and went 2-2 over four starts, including a win over the Raiders. Bagent actually completed 66% of his passes, but did throw six interceptions against just three TD passes.

Brett Rypien has been around the block a few times in the NFL and he’ll get a look, but so will Austin Reed, the rookie out of Western Kentucky who threw for over 8,000 yards and 71 touchdowns in two seasons with the Hilltoppers. The arm talent is certainly there, but this pro-style offense will be a much different scheme than what he ran in college.

On the QB front for the Texans, Davis Mills, Case Keenum, and Tim Boyle are all on the roster and are vying for the  backup QB spot behind Stroud. Boyle has 16 preseason TD passes and over 1,400 yards to his name over five seasons worth of action. This is actually a pretty competitive battle for the position.

We’ll see if rookie WR Rome Odunze is out there after being the No. 9 overall pick. Allen and DJ moore shouldn’t be, but the Bears have 12 wide receivers on the roster to evaluate, so they may opt to take it easy with the guys they know will make the team. Similarly, the Texans shouldn’t send out Nico Collins, Tank Dell, or Diggs, but they have some interesting guys in John Metchie III, Noah Brown, and South Dakota State’s Jadon Janke, who had 2,800 yards and 30 TDs in college.

Houston also drafted Jawhar Jordan, who rushed for nearly 2,000 yards over his last two seasons at Louisville. I prefer the offensive depth of the Texans and feel like DeMeco Ryans and his staff have been able to assist the front office with upgrading the talent on the roster from top to bottom.

The favorite flipped with the news that Williams and the Bears starters wouldn’t play. I like Houston’s depth way more anyway.

Pick: Texans -1

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