NFL teaser odds, picks: Accomplished analyst reveals top teaser plays for Week 1
SportsLine's Josh Nagel gives his highest-value teaser selections for the NFL slate
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Although teaser bets have long been a menu staple of sportsbooks and are on the betting menu for all point spread- based sports, pro football is the primary realm in which the customer can weaponize the teaser bet.
For the uninitiated, a teaser wager is a variation of a parlay in which the customer selects two or more legs and accepts additional points in their favor in return for reduced payout odds, the latter a byproduct of the advantage gained by the bettor.
The six-point teaser in the NFL is a popular wager because of the massive advantage gained in grabbing nearly a full extra touchdown in your chosen side of the point spread or total.
Both sides of this equation rate to have some value considering approximately 50% of NFL games have been decided by seven or fewer points over the past 25 years. Moreover, teasers can be used to adjust the numbers on an Over/Under total as well.
For example, the Chargers are favored by 8.5 points against the Cardinals in Week 1. Taking Los Angeles on a six-point teaser reduces the spread to 2.5, so they only have to win by 3 points for the teaser leg to cover. Conversely, taking Arizona would give the bettor +14.5, providing value across numerous key numbers including 10, 11 and 14.
Some players like to tease both sides of a contest and hope to hit the "middle" between the numbers, but we will rarely suggest that because our teaser recommendations are usually a combination of our strongest ATS plays filtered through the value that the teaser number provides. In other words, playing on both sides would be tantamount to betting against our favored position on the game.
Sportsbooks used to offer odds of -110 (wager $110 to win $100) on a two-team, six-point NFL teaser. But in recent years, betting outlets have raised the price of this customer-favorable wager, driving down the return on investment by driving up the juice because the -110 offering was simply found to be exploitable by sharp players.
Even so, DraftKings still offers -120 (wager $120 to win $100) on this bet, and we would advise against playing a two-leg teaser at any worse price. Similar to a standard parlay, the odds increase with additional legs added. DraftKings currently offers +160 on a three-leg teaser, +260 for four legs and +400 for five legs.
But as the title "teaser" suggests, it's easy to get lured in and carried away amid the enticement of favorable adjusted odds and add one too many legs to your teaser, thus negating the inherent advantage. Although it takes discipline, we are recommending sticking to two-leg, six-point NFL teasers to maximize your profit margin.
We have been long-time advocates of the six-point NFL teaser and, in this space, we're going to offer our best weekly NFL teaser plays. Last year in this space, we hit 75% of our suggested teaser legs while connecting on 67% of our recommended two-leg teasers (32-16) for a profit of more than $1,000 for followers.
This year, we are going to stay away from suggesting totals, as they were our kryptonite last year, and stick to the inherent value gained by playing NFL teasers against the point spread. Below, we will list our top six weekly suggested NFL teaser legs in ordered by confidence level, and subscribers can mix and match as they see fit.
What are the the top six-point teaser plays for Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season? ... Join SportsLine to see proven expert Josh Nagel's top 2026 NFL teaser plays!
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