NFC West Betting Preview, MLB Friday Best Bets, and More - Ride the Line Ep. #24

A new episode of Ride the Line with Grant Mitchell and Tanner Kern is out now on all WSN platforms!

NFC West Betting - 2023 NFL Season Guide

The NFC West seems to produce at least one of the best teams in football every year. Recently the San Francisco 49ers have assumed that burden and have not disappointed, making three of the last four conference championships, including one in the 2022 season.

Unfortunately, the Niners’ run to another potential Super Bowl was halted due to the injuries of FOUR starting quarterbacks, and the Philadelphia Eagles earned the berth. However, with Javon Hargrave joining reigning Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa, San Fran is coming back for more in 2023.

According to FanDuel sportsbook, The Niners are a -165 favorite to win the NFC West crown. Grant likes them to go over on their win total en route to a division championship.

The next team in line, per the sportsbooks, is the Seattle Seahawks, who massively overachieved last season. Seattle also got better during the offseason by drafting cornerback Devon Witherspoon and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and bringing back standout linebacker and former Super Bowl champion Bobby Wagner.

Seattle has fallen on hard times lately, first with the collapse of the Legion of Boom and then the final years of Russell Wilson. However, this Seahawks team now has elite playmakers on offense and tons of talent on the defensive side, making them a highly interesting playoff prospect.

Grant still believes that the 49ers should win the division but is on board with placing a hedge bet on the Seahawks if their odds lengthen ahead of Week 1 in the new campaign. As it stands, they are two-to-one to win the NFC West.

NFC West - The Underdogs

The Los Angeles Rams, champions of the Super Bowl just a couple of seasons ago, are third in odds to win the NFC West and far behind the two other teams mentioned so far at +1000. They are coming off of a 5-12 season and lost key playmakers such as Wagner, Odell Beckham Jr., and Jalen Ramsey.

The Rams’ hopes are strictly tied to the health and statuses of Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp, both of whom missed extended periods of time last year. As thin as the rest of the roster is, having these two available every Sunday will at least give them a fighting chance to exceed their projected wins total of 6.5, though the latter does not seem likely.

The final team in the NFC West is the Arizona Cardinals, who the sportsbooks expect to vie for the title of the worst team in football. The Cardinals also lost key players J.J. Watt and DeAndre Hopkins and are in line to lose Budda Baker, who has already requested a trade to a new home.

Kyler Murray is also still recovering from a knee injury and is expected to miss at least the first month of the season. The rest of Arizona’s squad will have to navigate troubled waters without him and with a first-year head coach, Jonathan Gannon, leading the troops. The Cardinals made a savvy move to trade back and acquire future draft capital during the summer’s NFL Draft, but as much as that move helped with the future, it made the present even bleaker.

MLB Friday Betting Picks

As is tradition on the show, every NFL episode closes out with the best bet of the day. Grant’s pick for that is the Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 against the Kansas City Royals, and he’s not exactly reinventing the wheel.

The Dodgers get to face Jordan Lyles, a player who is 1-11 with a 6.68 ERA and has already given up 19 homers. That is significant because the Dodgers are second in the MLB in home runs. The Royals are also the worst team in baseball against the spread (27-53), while the Dodgers are above .500.