NFL Preseason 2025

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It’s Football Season

In six days, the NFL Hall of Fame Game is played in Canton, Ohio. The Lions face the Chargers, and just like that, the NFL season is underway.

NFL season is a glorious time for sports bettors. Every Monday, Thursday, and all day Sunday, sports fans across the US load up their sportsbook accounts, take game line bets, or cook up parlays.

Before we begin the true fun of football season, we need to get through the preseason. Most casual bettors overlook the preseason, or they use it as a source of data for upcoming fantasy drafts. Meanwhile, the pros are doing what they do best: making +EV bets in an inefficient market.

Please take a look at our best NFL betting tools for the upcoming season. Click here.

Sports betting is an information game. The more information asymmetry there is, the better your chances of winning (assuming you have information the books do not).

So, how do the pros win in the NFL preseason? How do less sophisticated sports bettors use the preseason to build their bankroll?

Keep reading.

Preseason NFL Betting

If information is the name of the game, how does one beat the market to information? Can an average person who likes to bet on sports find an edge in this market?

While it does take time and concerted effort, the average fan can indeed gain an informational edge in NFL preseason markets. Beat writing is a lost art, but NFL teams have a host of local and national reporters at their disposal. Start there.

By reading up on training camp battles, players’ injury statuses, and quotes/comments from head coaches, you can begin to understand how each team is approaching each preseason game.

Trends and head-to-head history, generally speaking, are meaningless in sports betting. However, when it comes to NFL preseason, coach speak and coaching history matter. If a head coach says he’s giving his starters extended burn, believe him, and beat the market to the first-half price.

Another way to win in the NFL preseason is to bet top-down. This strategy works across game line markets in all sports all season long, and it’s just as prevalent, if not more, when betting on the NFL preseason.

Barring massive injury news or inclement weather, NFL spreads and totals do not fluctuate significantly during the season. However, in the preseason, a single quote from a coach about playing time, and a spread can move considerably.

Lastly, knowing about teams’ backups, especially their QBs, is massive. Knowing as much as possible about the 2nd and 3rd string QBs will also help you make better betting decisions.

Sports bettors still need to treat the preseason like it's any other season. Sportsbooks will notice steam chasing in these markets, and it could put your account under a microscope.

NFL markets are efficient. NFL preseason markets are much more beatable. Money is green, no matter what sport it comes from, so don’t overlook betting on the NFL preseason.

Let’s Get This Straight

Every week, we dissect a relevant sports betting topic to determine its validity.

Betting on the NFL Preseason is SMART

If you get all or most of your sports betting news from X, TikTok, or any other social media, odds are, you’re getting terrible advice.

Post an NBA Summer League ticket or an NFL preseason ticket, and the trolls come out of the woodwork, letting you know that betting on these markets is “for true degenerates only.”

Here’s the reality:
Betting on these less efficient markets is easier to win at. Anyone telling you otherwise is telling on themselves.

Even with the significant differences in liquidity in these markets, professional sports bettors look for opportunities with high expected value. These markets provide those opportunities.

Just because a sport is popular does not mean it’s the only way to make a buck in sports betting. In fact, as we mentioned, it’s easier to win in these smaller markets.

Don’t let the know-it-alls on X tell you differently. Bettors find edges and bet the edges. Edges exist in these markets.

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