Week 1 of the NFL season is finally here, and Fanatics Sportsbooks has released an enticing promo for new customers to take advantage of.
This promo being offered by Fanatics allows new users to get up to $1,000 in matched bonus bets across a 10-day period. To qualify for the promo, new customers must apply the promotion in their bet slip, place, and settle a wager with odds of -200 or longer for $5 or more.
Once those terms are met, the customer will receive a Bonus Bet match of up to $100 for 10 straight days from the day they sign up to Fanatics Sportsbook. Each day, customers can get any single bet up to $100 matched in bonus bets.
While there are many ways to take advantage of this promo, the initial $5+ bet needs to be placed on an event ending the same day, as the promo runs starting from the day of signing up, as opposed to 10 days from when the bet settles.
After that, you can place the bets that qualify for the matched bonus bet on any market. So you could bet on another NFL game one day and then on college football another, and so on throughout the 10 days. The first bet for each day will be the one that counts for the matched bet, and it’s a maximum of one matched bet per day for all 10 days.
Bets To Consider With This Promo
Once you have met the qualifying conditions, there are several different potential markets for you to wager on for your daily bet and matched bonus bets.
With the NFL season kicking off tonight, we’ll start with one bet for each of the next five days for you to consider to help you through the first half of this promo period.
Ravens vs. Chiefs Best Bet
Pick: Derrick Henry Anytime TD
Gus Edwards tied with Raheem Mostert for most carries inside the 5-yard line last season, and he left the Baltimore Ravens in free agency for the Los Angeles Chargers.
His replacement? None other than Derrick Henry himself.
The Ravens signed Henry to a two-year, $16 million contract this offseason, signaling that the 30-year-old running back should have a prominent role in their offense.
While Henry is coming off his lowest average yards per carry (4.2) last season, he at the very least, should be the Edwards replacement near the goal line.
Although Lamar Jackson is the most effective quarterback with his legs in the league, the Ravens don’t utilize him as a runner in the red zone like Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts’ teams do.
Last season, Jackson had only five total carries inside the 5-yard line, 14 less than Edwards. Now, with the upgrade from Edwards to Henry, I expect the Ravens to lean on Jackson even less in these situations, as they would prefer to preserve their semi-injury-prone QB.
Packers vs. Eagles Best Bet
Pick: Luke Musgrave Over 24.5 Receiving Yards
Considering this is a Week 1 game in Brazil, there is too much potential variance for me to want to pick either side in this one. So, instead, I’ll go with a player prop as my best bet.
The Philadelphia Eagles struggled mightily in defending the middle of the field last season, and that was largely due to having one of the worst linebacker corps in the NFL.
While the Eagles made plenty of upgrades across their defense this offseason, they didn’t invest much in the linebacker position, so any improvements there remain to be seen.
With free agent signing Devin White already ruled out with an injury, Philadelphia’s starting linebackers will be Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean.
Baun comes from the New Orleans Saints, where he was primarily used as an off-ball edge rusher. He only played 27% of the defensive snaps last season. Considering the massive change in his role in Philadelphia, I would expect there to be quite the learning curve.
Dean, meanwhile, had a very impressive training camp, according to Eagles beat reporters, but has only played 216 snaps in two seasons. Dean is also more of a run-stopper and has struggled in pass coverage.
Considering the matchup against this Eagles defense, I’m attacking the Packers to try to exploit them over the middle of the field by getting tight end Luke Musgrave involved. Musgrave, a 2023 second-round pick, missed Weeks 11-17 last season but has gone over this yardage line in four of his last six games.
Saturday College Football Best Bet
Pick: Syracuse +3 vs. Georgia Tech
Syracuse is a home underdog against Georgia Tech on Saturday, and while I think they can pull off the upset, I’ll play it safe and take the three points here instead.
Georgia Tech is 2-0 after beating Georgia State last week and, of course, upsetting Florida State as 10.5-point underdogs in Dublin, Ireland, in Week 0.
While Georgia Tech’s upset win over FSU was stunning in the moment, it looks less impressive now after the Seminoles lost by 15 points as 16.5-point home favorites against Boston College.
If the Seminoles aren’t any good this season, which seems to be the case, then this road matchup at Syracuse will be the Yellow Jackets’ real first test of the season.
Considering this spread originally opened at Georgia Tech -1, there is strong value here on betting the Orange getting a field goal.
Sunday NFL Week 1 Best Bet
Pick: Steelers vs. Falcons Under 42.5 points
This is a pretty simple bet for me for a couple of reasons.
One, we’re fading the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense, which looked dreadful during the preseason and has a very dire skill-position group to go along with a mediocre (at best) quarterback room.
Steelers QB Russell Wilson has been limited in practice due to calf tightness, but I’m interested in this under regardless of who is under center for Pittsburgh. While the Atlanta Falcons have a weak pass rush, their defense is much improved with the additions of Matthew Judon and Justin Simmons.
On the other side, I don’t trust Kirk Cousins in his first game back from tearing his Achilles against this Steelers defense. Not only will Cousins be rusty and getting acclimated to a new team, but he’ll be going against the best pass-rushing duo in the NFL of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. Considering his lack of mobility coming off the injury, that’s a scary thought.
Best of all, this total is above a key number of 41.5. This under is my favorite bet of the week.
Monday Night Football Best Bet
Pick: Breece Hall Anytime TD
Breece Hall is one of the most talented running backs in the NFL. Like his teammate Garrett Wilson, however, he’s been held back by horrific quarterback play over the last two seasons.
The Jets’ offense was so bad last season that Hall only had one — yes, one — carry inside the 5-yard line in 17 games.
Now that Aaron Rodgers is back, this Jets offense should receive a huge boost. Rodgers doesn’t even need to return to his MVP-caliber form for New York’s offense to improve dramatically. He just needs to be considerably better than Zach Wilson was last season, which is a very low bar.
Even against a stout 49ers defense, I’m expecting the Jets to give Hall the opportunity to find his way into the end zone.
The Fanatics promotion is only available to new customers in the following states: AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, VT, WV, or WY. The promotion is available between Aug. 20 and Dec. 31, 2024.