NFL Week 18 early picks: Back the Panthers and teams making sit or start decisions
CBS Sports NFL expert Will Brinson breaks down all the bets to jump on early for Week 18 of the NFL season

Well, good luck with this one, folks. The final week of the NFL season is the ultimate chaos week, with teams making various decisions about various players -- we'll have an idea about who is starting and who is sitting in Week 18, but we won't know for sure.
However, this does present some solid betting opportunities because of all the chaos that is going to unfold over the next five or so days. Let's try to cut through the noise to find some early winners.
Bet it now: Rams -7.5 vs. Cardinals
Bet on the Rams to cover with the DraftKings promo code:
So the juice on this looks like it wants to come back to -7, and if you want to wait a little bit to take it and try to get an even touchdown I'm fine with it, but I would think the market eventually moves towards the Rams if Sean McVay is going to handle things the way he should.
The Rams blew an opportunity for rest on Monday night against the Falcons and now have to decide whether to play their starters against Arizona to try to secure the No. 5 seed (and therefore play the NFC South winner) or risk going to Philadelphia or Chicago in the first round of the playoffs.
Stafford is also now 3-1 (!) to win the MVP with Drake Maye installed as a -400 favorite at DraftKings. Stafford, in my opinion, could steal the MVP back with a strong performance against the Cardinals if Maye scuffles at all in the season finale against the Dolphins.
Either way, the Cardinals are terrible and have been getting carved up, so Stafford should feast here. I like the Rams to win by 10+.
Bet it now: Commanders +7 at Eagles
Back Washington against Philadelphia at DraftKings:
I don't love the Commanders this week, but I do love the Eagles benching all their starters, which is what it sounds like they're going to do in Week 18, according to a report from Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. As of Tuesday morning, the market hadn't fully adjusted for that report, with the Commanders still getting 7 points.
It's a bit tough to just load up on Josh Johnson, but if the Eagles are resting all their starters, it also means their game plan should be pretty vanilla as well, whereas you have to expect a Dan Quinn-coached team to go full pedal to the floor with anyone available in hopes of just finding another win.
Bet it now: Cowboys -4.5 at Giants
Bet on Dallas to cover at DraftKings:
The Cowboys' playoff hopes are long gone, having said adios several weeks ago. So they're not playing for anything other than pride in this game, but coming off a snug win over the Commanders at home on Christmas Day, I have a feeling we could see a big-time performance from Dak Prescott and this offense in the final week of the season.
No one likes empty victories more than Jerry Jones, and beating down the Giants in Week 18 would go a long way towards helping Jones' assessment of Brian Schottenheimer's first season.
Also, the Dallas offense -- provided the team doesn't sit any starters, which I don't expect -- is just elite. The defense isn't, but the New York offense isn't extremely scary and if Jaxson Dart takes any kind of hit, he's probably getting benched immediately, which would mean chances to pick off Jameis Winston.
Something about this game just screams 35-10 Cowboys.
Bet it now: Panthers +3 at Buccaneers
Back Carolina at DraftKings:
I noticed on Monday night that this line moved to Bucs -2.5 on DraftKings, which is the correct move in my opinion. The Panthers are an up-and-down team and they're coming off a down game, so I like them to bounce back against Tampa Bay just two weeks after beating them outright at home in Charlotte.
Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay offense just don't look good right now, and Carolina can cook against this defense.
I want the full 3 if I can get it, because I think it ends up being a field goal game at the end of the day. This will be less than 3 across the entire market by kickoff.
















