Top NFL Preseason 2024-25 Future Bets to Place During Training Camp | Deadspin.com

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud looks for another big year in 2024. PHOTO USA Today Sports Images

With August right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to attack the NFL betting scene.

Week 1 of the preseason begins on Aug. 8, less than a month before the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens kick off the regular season on Sept. 5.

Kansas City’s clash with Baltimore will mark Game 1 of 272 that you’re able to throw money on throughout the course of the regular season, and then the stakes will be raised come playoff time. But now is your chance to get ahead of the curve.

Here are three NFL futures bets that you need to jump on as soon as possible:

C.J. Stroud to throw 30+ regular-season touchdowns, +120 (DraftKings)

A sophomore slump is the last thing that Stroud is going to have to worry about as he enters Year 2 with the Houston Texans.

Houston turned itself into an offensive powerhouse this offseason, adding Stefon Diggs to its receiving corps while also snagging Joe Mixon and Cam Akers for the backfield.

Mixon, Akers and incumbent running back Dameon Pierce are sure to take some pressure off Stroud, but what has us salivating is the fact that Nico Collins and Tank Dell are going to be acting as WR2 and WR3, respectively, with Diggs joining the party.

If that wasn’t enough firepower, tight end Dalton Schultz is coming off a stellar season (59 receptions, 635 yards, five TDs), and he’s bound to still get some targets in what has turned into a star-studded system.

The sky is truly the limit for Stroud, who found the end zone 23 times through the air in his rookie season. Thirty scores should be well within reach here in 2024.

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Ezekiel Elliott is back with the Dallas Cowboys for another season after a brief stop with the New England Patriots. Jack Dempsey/AP Photo

Ezekiel Elliott over 600.5 regular-season rushing yards, -115 (DraftKings)

He’s back.

After one season with the New England Patriots, Elliott has returned to Dallas, where he rushed for 8,262 yards and 68 touchdowns over the first seven seasons of his career.

Elliott, 29, showed that he still had some gas in the tank during his time with New England, racking up 642 yards on the ground in 17 games (five starts). He primarily served as Rhamondre Stevenson’s backup, jumping into the starting role when Stevenson had to be put on the shelf due to a high ankle sprain in Week 13.

But now the Cowboys’ backfield is Elliott’s to lose, and considering he’s rushed for at least 876 yards in each of his seven seasons with Dallas, we’re thinking 601 should be child’s play.

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Apr 25, 2024; Detroit, MI, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. poses after being selected by the Arizona Cardinals as the No. 4 pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Marvin Harrison Jr. to win Offensive Rookie of the Year, +650 (DraftKings)

You can’t put a futures bet slip together without taking at least one long shot.

So here you go.

The Cardinals have been dying to have a true No. 1 wide receiver ever since they had to watch DeAndre Hopkins taper off in 2021 and 2022, his final two seasons with the team. Arizona finally seems to have one in Marvin Harrison Jr., the No. 4 overall pick in this year’s draft.

Quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye all came off the board ahead of Harrison, with Williams (+135) and Daniels (+550) boasting the shortest odds to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.

But Cardinals signal-caller Kyler Murray seems to be healthy, and if that’s the case, who’s to say he can’t find his 2020–21 form? The 26-year-old threw for 7,758 yards and 50 TDs across those two seasons, going 17-13 as a starter in the process.

Harrison will benefit the most from a revived Murray, and this is a risk we’re willing to take with the amount of profit on the line.