Giving Props: Best player bets for the Vikings against Tampa

The National Football League is a league where you can bet on pretty much anything, from the results of the game itself to the production of individual players and things that are markedly more obscure. Going into each game this season, we’re going to take a look at some of those wagers and which way you could potentially lean on those, courtesy of our friends at the DraftKings Sportsbook.

Here are a few potential lines from this weekend’s season opener for the Minnesota Vikings against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that seem to be particularly intriguing.

Justin Jefferson, 74.5 receiving yards: Over (-210) or Under (+170)

We’ll start off with the reigning and defending Offensive Player of the Year. As we know, Jefferson went off in last year’s season opener with a pair of touchdowns and over 180 yards receiving. The Buccaneers are likely going to be heavily focused on Jefferson in this one, but I’m not sure it’s going to matter. Jefferson had a bit of a quiet end to last season and will no doubt want to get off on the right foot this week. I’m just not sure how much the Bucs will be able to do about it.

The play: Over

Alexander Mattison, 54.5 rushing yards: Over (-235) or Under (+190)

This will be Mattison’s first season as the unquestioned #1 back in the Vikings’ offense with Dalvin Cook out of the picture, and the Vikings appear to be re-committing to the run after a season where they were 27th in the NFL in rushing attempts. With the team looking to use more multiple tight end sets, they’ll likely try to establish the run early and often. The Bucs were pretty solid against the run last season and the thought of Vita Vea against the Minnesota interior o-line is pretty frightening, but I think that Mattison can still get that number.

The play: Over

Kirk Cousins longest pass: 35+ yards (-165), 40+ yards (+100), 45+ yards (+165), 50+ yards (+255)

Cousins, for whatever reason, has a reputation of being a checkdown artist, though I think at least a bit of that was dispelled last season. I think that the weapons Cousins has around him are all capable of turning short passes into long ones, and guys like Jefferson and K.J. Osborn have shown that they can get open deep, too. I think Cousins is going to pop at least one long pass in this one, so we’ll go with the long odds here.

The play: 50+ yards

Those are the plays to make for this week, at least in my opinion. As always, your mileage may vary.