Slow day? No way! Not with NFL futures action to be had

On what is arguably the slowest sports day of the year, drop your handball and Korean baseball bets, and let’s regroup. We don’t need immediate action every day, but slow summer days like this one provide us a great opportunity to look into the futures markets. We highlighted the NFC East and NFC North on Monday, and now we put a bow on the NFC with the two remaining divisions.

Trust in the defending champs — The NFC West has been one of the toughest divisions for years now, but that will alleviate a bit in 2022 with Russell Wilson joining Denver this offseason. When looking at the odds to win the division, it’s hard to pass up the Rams at +125. Fresh off a Super Bowl win and retaining most of its core, Los Angeles is prepared for another championship run. We like the San Francisco roster, but with Trey Lance likely leading the team, it’s hard to trust in the young QB to author a division title in his first year as “the guy.” We’ve put in our future: the Rams’ window is still open.

Trying to find a challenger for the Buccaneers and coming up short — The heaviest favorite of all eight divisions is Tampa Bay at -290. That’s not a bet we’re going to make, offering us almost no value on a market we wouldn’t see a return on until January. If we were to look elsewhere, call us crazy but we prefer the odds on Carolina to win the NFC South at +1000. Baker Mayfield has joined the fold and will lead an offense with solid pieces in DJ Moore, Christian McCaffrey and Robbie Anderson. With intriguing young defenders, the Panthers should improve on their 2021 season that saw them go 5-12. We like the Panthers win total over, currently sitting at just 6.5. Lock us in for over 6.5 wins from Carolina at +105.

In other news …

American League wins All-Star Game, Giancarlo Stanton MVP — We hope you avoided the over in last night’s Midsummer Classic; the AL won 3-2 with the last of the scoring done in the fourth inning. The AL has now won nine straight All-Star Games. Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton won MVP honors thanks to his game-tying, two-run HR off Tony Gonsolin. Stanton was +1200 to win the award, so cheers to you if you got a piece of that one.

3M Open tees off Thursday morning — All four majors are done for this PGA Tour season, but the action remains with the 3M Open this weekend. Tony Finau is the favorite, at +1100, followed by Hideki Matsuyama at +1600. After those two, the name recognition likely drops in the field, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a bet worth making. Simple-minded this may be, but how do we not put a couple bucks down on Cameron Champ to win at +6500? Yes, Champ has really struggled this season, but he won the event at TPC Twin Cities last year with a final score of 269. We’ll take the defending “Champ” at these odds, please and thank you.

Paul Goldschmidt still seeming like the best bet to win NL MVP — As we head into the second half of the MLB season, the MVP is a bet worth securing now. As our own Jared Shlensky broke down for us, the American League race offers no value with favorite Shohei Ohtani at -105. Plus-money is still on the table in the National League, and our bet is on Paul Goldschmidt at +115. Goldy is nothing short of the most efficient hitter in the NL, topping the league in OBP, runs, batting average and slugging percentage, to name a few. Give us the Cardinals slugger to bring home the hardware with a strong second half of his season.