NFL Preseason Picks
Key Highlights:
- Browns vs. Eagles: Does Cleveland have any healthy QBs?
- Dolphins vs. Lions: Battle of the bad backups
- 49ers vs. Raiders: Is Cam Miller the next Tom Brady?!
Coming up with NFL Preseason Week 2 picks could be a bit of an adventure. Underdogs racked up a 12-4 ATS record and the Over was 14-2 in Week 1. The sportsbooks have still taken a conservative approach to totals this week, as many have been bet up or adjusted up from where they were, but we still only have a handful of games in the 40s.
The average game total was 44.8 points last week. None of this week’s games are lined that high, at least not as of Wednesday when this article went up. As more money floods the market, we’ll have to see how the totals are adjusted and if there are any influential bettors or groups willing to buy back on the Under and consider last week to be an outlier.
Per usual, this week has been a race to the news, as some favorites have flipped and some favorites have grown based on who’s in and who’s out for the second week of three here in the 2025 NFL Preseason.
Also, be sure to look at our NFL Pro Picks page for the latest from our VSiN experts and on-air guests. Also, check out some NFL Preseason betting tips and this year’s NFL Preseason QB Depth Charts.
With that in mind, let’s look at a few games that could have some betting opportunities.
Here are some NFL Preseason Week 2 picks:
Odds as of Wednesday, August 13 at 10:30 a.m. PT
Cleveland Browns at Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5, 37.5)
Saturday, 1 p.m. ET
A line move in this game has pushed the Eagles out to a bigger favorite. Tanner McKee looked like he could start for two-thirds of the league in Week 1 of the preseason and honestly looked very good replacing an injured Jalen Hurts and Kenny Pickett last season for Philly. He’ll get a nice look here, but so will a highly-motivated Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
DTR was only 5-of-8 for 56 yards with a long of 24 last week to go along with a couple of scrambles for zero yards. But, he wasn’t sacked and seemed to have a decent grasp of the Eagles offense. A fresh start for a talented dual-threat guy should be a positive and he has a great chance to beat out Kyle McCord for the QB3 job. McCord, who was just 1-of-5 last week with a pick, certainly seemed overwhelmed with the speed of the game, but he’s got that out of his system now.
The Browns may have to roll with Tyler “Snoop” Huntley for the entirety of this one. Shadeur Sanders suffered an oblique injury and missed practice on Wednesday. Dillon Gabriel and Kenny Pickett have rarely practiced. Even if Gabriel can go, he hasn’t had a whole lot of meaningful reps to this point in joint practices or otherwise.
The Eagles are a model organization in the NFL and just find dudes that fit what they do on both offense and defense. Will Shipley, ShunDerrick Powell, and AJ Dillon all had over five yards per carry against the Bengals. A hodgepodge of wide receivers created some explosives and had 12.2 yards per reception.
While Cleveland poured it on late against Carolina, both teams only mustered 4.7 yards per play. From 1 through 53, the Eagles represent a big upgrade for the Browns this week, who are unlikely to play their starters long, if at all.
Pick: Eagles -4.5
Miami Dolphins (-3.5, 37.5) at Detroit Lions
Saturday, 1 p.m. ET
The Hendon Hooker experiment has not gone well for the Lions, as the 2023 third-round pick may be playing for his roster spot this week at Ford Field. Head coach Dan Campbell pulled him early in the first half for turning the ball over twice and gave the game to Kyle Allen, who played really well in his second effort of the preseason after a pretty poor Hall of Fame Game showing.
Speaking of poor showings, have you heard anything good out of Dolphins camp? Quinn Ewers was the talk of social media after how bad he was in second-half duties last week against the Bears in a 24-24 tie. Zach Wilson wasn’t great in relief of Tua Tagovailoa. ESPN’s Dolphins beat writer Marcel Louis-Jacques pointed out the issues down the depth chart for Miami’s offensive line in joint practices against the Bears and the Week 1 preseason game.
Campbell’s an emotionally-charged guy and the Lions have not played well in their two preseason games thus far for the most part. Now they’re home at Ford Field with a chance to clean up some things and it sounded as though they had the upper hand in Wednesday’s joint practice. Tua looks to be on track to play a bit and Jared Goff does not, which is a key part of the line move here, but the Dolphins and their lack of depth, coupled with a growing number of injuries, shouldn’t be this big of a favorite in my eyes.
Based on what we saw last week, even Hooker may have the upper hand over Ewers as those two probably decide this game late and the Lions should aggressively pursue the QB just like their NFC North brethren did with six sacks and 11 pressures last week.
Pick: Lions +3.5
San Francisco 49ers at Las Vegas Raiders (-4.5, 40.5)
Saturday, 4 p.m. ET
Those looking for a convenient excuse to leave the Bay Area and come to Las Vegas will have it this weekend. Along with the Oaklanders (Oaklandites?) who regularly come to check out their former team, the other side of the Bay may head to town to check out this preseason tilt, as the Niners play in Sin City for the first time since Week 17 of the 2022 season.
Brock Purdy played three series in the 49ers’ second preseason game last year, so it seems likely that he’ll get at least a little bit of time in this one. Last week, we saw Drew Lock and the Seahawks run like a hot knife through butter in the first quarter against the Raiders. Obviously some stars didn’t play, but the Seahawks had 132 yards on 19 plays over their first two drives, with a pick deep in Raiders territory and a touchdown run.
But, the real star of the show for the Raiders in that game was Cam Miller. The hype train is careening down the tracks, as the sixth-rounder handpicked by Tom Brady was 6-of-7 for 76 yards and a touchdown. With Geno Smith and the starters slated to play “quite a bit” per head coach Pete Carroll in last week’s media scrum, the Raiders don’t need to see much from Aidan O’Connell. He played most of last week’s game and, for now, is safe as the QB2. So, that means Smith and Miller in all likelihood.
Even with Carter Bradley and Tanner Mordecai finishing this one out for the 49ers, there is incentive post-Purdy to let Mac Jones get deeper into the playbook as the team’s obvious QB2. The Raiders gave up another easy TD drive to Lock & Co. in the second quarter of last week’s game, including two conversions of 3rd-and-6 or more.
With the way that Jarrett Stidham sliced through the second and third-team defenses, I’m not sure how much resistance San Francisco will provide on the point-prevention front.
Pick: 49ers/Raiders Over 40.5
