Will Brinson's NFL Week 2 Picks: Best Bets, Player Props, and TD Scorers

What did we learn from Week 1 to help us with our bets in Week 2? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! Throw that first week out the window, even if you were right about everything and all your biases were confirmed. Week 2 is a different beast and generally we see some serious variance from what our post-Week 1 expectations were, especially with teams against the spread.  Bet on the NFL and more at DraftKings, where new users get $200 in bonus bets after spending $5+:

Some things from the first week of the season can absolutely hold true, but don't expect a team to perform well in the second week just because they were great in the first. If you got humiliated in Week 1, there's a decent chance you're good value in Week 2. We've got several good spots to target this weekend from spread bets  to player prop betting and, of course, anytime touchdown scorers.

Let's find some winners!

Best bets for NFL Week 2

Chargers -6.5 vs. Raiders

We nailed the Chargers losing to the Cardinals last week (shoutout Cardinals money line!) so let's do what everyone least expects and back the Bolts laying nearly a touchdown immediately after. This doesn't make any sense, not after the Raiders won last week and the Chargers looked like one of the worst teams in football. I don't care; this is as close to a must-win game as it gets for Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert , who have a BRUTAL schedule on deck. If they don't win this matchup, 0-7 is legitimately on the table despite having Super Bowl aspirations before the year. I think it's a prime bounceback spot. Harbaugh gets up for divisional games and while the Raiders are much improved, I think they feasted on a terrible Dolphins team. Monster Omarian Hampton game loading.

Cowboys -3.5 vs. Commanders

Sticking with the theme above, let's take the hyped team during preseason that was humiliated in Week 1 and look for a bounceback here in what, again, is kind of a must-win game, mostly for morale. Starting 0-2 in the division without playing the Eagles would be a tough spot for Brian Schottenheimer and Dak Prescott . I don't think it happens -- the Cowboys will have more than two possessions in the second half, the defense will look sharper and Prescott should be able to sling the ball around at will against the Commanders .

Vikings +4.5 at Bears

I don't love backing Carson Wentz , which is what we're likely doing with Kyler Murray limited this week with a concussion. There's a chance Murray plays, albeit a very small one, and I think it would move the line a half point or a point if he did. I don't really care; the Bears can't stop anyone. They can score as many points as they want and might very well break the 2013 Broncos scoring record. But the Vikings defense is much better than the Panthers and there's serious backdoor potential here for Wentz and Co. against a Bears defense that simply cannot stop anyone.

Buccaneers -8.5 vs. Browns

The Buccaneers should have scored a lot more points against the Bengals despite Cincy's improved defense. Baker Mayfield fumbled three times, costing them scores and possibly a win. There won't be any Mayfield fumbles this week, not in Tampa's home opener and the ultimate revenge game for the ultimate revenge guy. Cleveland looked bad and did absolutely nothing on offense until a late garbage-time throw from Deshaun Watson , who should start and play the whole game again this week. The playcalling lacked creativity for Cleveland and the personnel is just overmatched. Mayfield hates the Browns for dumping him on a trash pile to take on Watson. This isn't his Super Bowl but it's close. Bucs by a million.

Dolphins +13.5 at 49ers

Major league "pinch our noses" situation here, because the Dolphins are a bottom-two team set to play a 49ers squad that, at least in Week 1, looked like it was back. Defensively, the Niners flew all over the place and made the Rams look like a below-average football team. But they are also coming off a massive win in Australia, flying back from there after spending a week Down Under. That's a lot of travel time after a massive win against a division rival to be laying two touchdowns in Week 2, when we're still figuring out everything about each NFL team . San Francisco also has two division games in three weeks after this little speed bump, so there's a lookahead factor as well. The Dolphins are going to muddle things up with Malik Willis and something tells me they do just enough to linger in this one.

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Week 1 NFL player props

Ja'Marr Chase Over 6.5 receptions

Not the best matchup in the world here, but Chase was non-existent in Week 1 from a production standpoint and that was a big talking point coming out of the week, even though the Bengals managed to beat the Bucs at home to start the season. I don't expect the Texans defense to be bad again, but they were gettable, at least by the Bills last week. And Chase should have a squeaky wheel game here.

Bucky Irving Over 82.5 rushing + receiving yards

The usage for Irving in Week 1 was excellent, and I think there's a decent chance he's "back" to the guy we saw in his rookie year. He won't be a pure bellcow but he was the primary back for Tampa in the first week of the season. As such, we're going to take his combo over here and hope he gets plenty of looks out of the backfield from Mayfield and maybe a long run or two early in this game against a Browns team that might be eyeing the draft already.

Devaughn Vele Over 3.5 receptions

There's a non-zero chance the Ravens blow the doors off the Saints in this game and for the purposes of this prop bet, we are totally fine with that. The Ravens are better than the Lions on defense but they also let the Colts creep back into that game in Week 1. If they get up on the Saints, I'd expect Tyler Shough throwing a ton and that means Vele can clear this number. Chris Olave was banged up/left the field three different times in Week 1 and Vele ended up seeing nine targets. He's just going to be involved until Jordyn Tyson gets back from IR.

Dallas Goedert Over 37.5 receiving yards

Tight end Colston Loveland failed us BADLY in this spot last week, but the usage on Goedert was much better. He might be Jalen Hurts ' primary weapon in this grinder of a Philly offense. The receptions line at 3.5 feels a little thin but considering he's still picking up some bigger catches, I'll back the yardage here.

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Anytime touchdown scorer props for Week 1

We're rolling with half-unit for most of these as we're taking some deeper, plus-money shots on most of our touchdown looks this week.

TreVeyon Henderson

The electric sophomore running back missed Week 1 against Seattle but is a full go for this home opener against the Steelers in what could be a sneaky key game for the AFC wild card race. Henderson still won't be the starter here and I expect Rhamondre Stevenson to get most of the carries. But Henderson is an electric, big-play threat and will be in the return mix as well. Give him an opening and he can house the ball. I like buying low at this price.

Darren Waller

The targets and the snap count weren't ideal for Waller in Week 1 against the Bears, but for a guy who showed up three weeks ago, we'll take two targets and a 35 percent snap count. Waller got to rest this week, we saw the Steelers attack the Falcons from the tight end position and it wouldn't be shocking if the Panthers continued to work him into the offense at all. It's a gut-feel long shot.

Justin Jefferson

We're going back to the well with Jettas here after cashing in last week. He had an absurd target share of 42 percent because Carson Wentz' primary strategy is "throw it to Justin Jefferson ." And, honestly, it's a pretty good strategy. The Bears defense is awful and JJ will get some red-zone looks here in what profiles as a shootout.

Garrett Wilson

Back to the well here. Wilson is coming off a seven-target, six-catch game against the Titans where the Jets offense simply wasn't asked to do that much. The Packers defense did not look capable of slowing down a top-shelf receiver and I think Wilson is primed for a big year in a much more competent offense with Geno Smith at the helm. At nearly 2-1, it's a good look.

John Bates

This is a longshot look here at almost 5-1 but the Cowboys defense didn't look any better in Week 1 than it did most of last year. If anything, it was worse. Isaiah Likely carved the Cowboys up for two scores and while we don't want to assume every tight end will do well against Dallas, I'm willing to wager it might be an attackable linebacking issue. As such, with Chig Okonkwo missing practice all week so far, we're going to dabble in some Bates.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/betting/news/will-brinsons-nfl-week-2-predictions-and-picks-best-bets-player-props-anytime-td-scorers-for-sunday/)._