2025 NFL Training Camp Bets, News and Rumors: QB Questions for Saints, Colts
Every NFL team has reported to training camp by this point with the first preseason game on the slate Thursday featuring the Los Angeles Chargers vs. Detroit Lions in the annual Hall of Fame Game. Let’s break down what we think are five of the biggest storylines around camps and any potential betting resolutions.
Check out our full list of NFL futures and preseason odds.
New Detroit Lions Coordinators
Since the Detroit Lions are one of the first two teams to take the field for an exhibition game, we’ll start with them. They were the NFC favourites most of last season and finished with a franchise-best 15-2 regular-season record and home-field throughout the playoffs. The franchise’s first-ever NFC title looked very doable … only for Detroit to be stunned at home in the Divisional Round by rookie QB Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.
While head coach Dan Campbell has pretty much all of his key players back from last season – if star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson hadn’t suffered a season-ending injury in mid-October, I believe the Lions would have won the NFC – he has to replace both coordinators with offensive guru Ben Johnson now the head coach at division rival Chicago and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn the head coach of the New York Jets.
Thus, the preseason might be a bit more important to the Lions to hit the ground running for the regular season. This marks only the third time since 2010 that a team lost both coordinators to NFL head coaching jobs in same offseason. The last club it happened to was Philadelphia after the 2022 season when the Eagles lost in the Super Bowl. They regressed in 2023 with two new guys, fired them and then won the Super Bowl last season with new coordinators again. I like Detroit at +525 to win the NFC title for the first time.
Two-Way Travis Hunter
The Jacksonville Jaguars paid a big price to the Cleveland Browns to move up from No. 5 overall in this year’s NFL Draft to No. 2 and select reigning Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter of the Colorado Buffaloes. Hunter won college football’s top award because he shined on offence as a wide receiver and on defence as a cornerback. So the big question on everyone’s mind: How will the Jaguars use him?
The early answer appears to be primarily as a wideout with some snaps worked in on passing downs in the secondary. During minicamp, Hunter played the majority of practice on offence before switching to defence during the team’s final period. And during training camp, he generally has had a full day at one position and then another full day at the other. But Hunter will play both ways this Friday at the team’s scrimmage. Hunter is +1000 for Offensive Rookie of the Year and +750 for Defensive. Sounds like the only bet worth wagering would be the OROY simply for limited snap counts on defence.
J.J. McCarthy In Minnesota
In Major League Baseball, you can play a certain amount of games in a first season in the Show but still retain rookie status. In the NBA, the definition of a rookie is someone’s first season of action and not when drafted. Ben Simmons was drafted first overall in 2016 by Philadelphia but missed his entire rookie campaign. He won ROY in 2017.
In the NFL, you are a rookie only with your draft class. So Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy is not eligible for 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year after missing all of last season. He was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 draft – a QB class that collectively shined as rookies.
It’s pretty rare for a “rookie” like McCarthy is in terms of game experience step into such a good situation as he will be doing in Minnesota, which finished with the second-most regular-season wins in the NFL last year under QB Sam Darnold before flaming out in the playoffs.
But the Vikings were so high on McCarthy that they let Darnold walk in free agency and told future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers to go pound sand when he came sniffing around signing with the club this winter. The current Minnesota backup is Sam Howell, so the entire Vikings season is clearly on McCarthy’s shoulders as this roster is Super Bowl calibre. I like Minnesota at -115 to make the playoffs again.
Colts, Saints QB Battles
Technically, there were four NFL quarterback competitions open as recently as a week ago, but to absolutely no surprise the New York Giants have named veteran addition Russell Wilson as their Week 1 guy at Washington under centre ahead of fellow veteran James Winston and rookie Jaxson Dart. The Giants traded back into late Round 1 of this year’s draft to select Dart out of Ole Miss.
The Cleveland Browns were to have a four-way competition between veteran and former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco, former Steelers first-round pick Kenny Pickett and two rookies: third-round pick Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon and fifth-round surprise Shedeur Sanders out of Colorado. Pickett is already hurt (hamstring) and the two rookies are projects, so it most surely will be Flacco in Week 1 vs. Cincinnati.
That leaves competitions in Indianapolis and New Orleans. The Colts are pitting Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 pick in 2023, against free-agent addition Daniel Jones, a former bust No. 6 overall pick of the Giants. Both are good runners but very inaccurate and both tend to get hurt. We’d expect Richardson in the opener vs. Miami.
The Saints’ job opened when starter Derek Carr surprisingly retired this offseason due to injury, so now they have one of the worst QB competitions in recent memory with second-round rookie Tyler Shough vs. 2024 fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler and 2023 fourth-rounder Jake Haener. That’s brutal. Shough should win it, but the Saints won’t win many games and we’d pick them under alt 5.5 wins and/or +400 as fewest wins in the league this season.
Brian Daboll, Shane Steichen On Hot Seats
We follow the teams with quarterback battles with odds on first coach to be fired, and Sports Interaction simply offers a yes-only prop now on whether one will be gone by the end of Week 5 at +500.
Even 10 years ago, that likely wouldn’t have been a smart wager, but these days NFL owners have that much more money in their pocket from national TV/streaming deals and also have become that much more impatient when it comes to losing. These are all billionaires with egos.
For example, it used to be that we would never see an NFL head coach fired after just one full season in charge, but both the Raiders and Patriots made such changes after the 2024 campaign. Last year, the Jets coach Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start as the first one gone league-wide.
Two coaches who especially could be gone before Oct. 1 this year, which would mean after four games, are the New York Giants’ Brian Daboll and Indianapolis Colts’ Shane Steichen as both were nearly canned last winter. At +500, this is worth a shot.