NFL Preseason Week 1 Odds: Panthers, Chiefs, Patriots Among Betting Favorites

Do not expect to see Cam Newton in action when the Carolina Panthers host the Houston Texans in Wednesday's NFL preseason opener between the teams. But the Panthers are excited to showcase rookie running back Christian McCaffrey in front of their fans as they sit as small one-point favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.

McCaffrey's debut is one of the early stories to follow in Week 1 of the preseason, as many other key rookies are also likely to see the field and compete for playing time. The former Stanford Cardinal has been impressive in training camp for Carolina, per the Panthers' official website.

Houston rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson will back up starter Tom Savage on Wednesday as well. Like McCaffrey, Watson has been outstanding in training camp, per the Houston Chronicle, and he will want to prove himself here in an effort to eventually earn the starting job.

The Panthers are one of nine home favorites in 16 games this week, with many of them sitting close to a pick'em. The biggest favorites right now are the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the San Francisco 49ers as four-point chalk on Friday.

In fact, all three games on Friday have the home teams favored by two points or more, with the New York Giants listed as three-and-a-half-point chalk versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals two-point favorites against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Chiefs will be getting a good look at their rookie signal-caller Patrick Mahomes, who was selected 10th overall in the draft.

Before that, the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will be one of 14 teams in action on Thursday. The Patriots will be hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars in what would be a massive regular-season mismatch. But because these teams are squaring off in the preseason, New England is just a three-and-a-half-point favorite with most of the team's starters expected to sit out, including quarterback Tom Brady.

There are five more games slated between Saturday and Sunday, with the Dallas Cowboys looking to improve to 2-0 after topping the Arizona Cardinals 20-18 in last week's Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.

The Cowboys surrendered 15 points in the first quarter but held the Cardinals to only a field goal the rest of the game. Dallas pushed as a two-point favorite and won for just the third time in nine preseason games dating back to 2015, according to the OddsShark NFL Database.