NFL 2025 futures: Insider’s best bets includes Texans and Rams

With the 2025 NFL Draft behind us and with the NFL schedule release still to come, I’m holding off on delving deeper into win total props, for now. But there are some division winner and playoff props that I began exploring over the weekend.

As a rule, I don’t like to tie too much of my money up on long-term props, especially ones like these that won’t pay for nine months. And I especially don’t like to do it unless I’m getting plus money in return. And frankly, for the most part, I look for better odds than what is being offered on the teams that really attract me in these markets. But I did fire away on a few, nonetheless.

I also know that more money will be flowing into these markets and adjustments will be made, and now is something of a sweet spot to attack them before the schedule release and the final few free-agent signings of any note. For the most part, the draft didn’t shift my power rankings much at all – a nudge up here and nudge back there, but nothing close to major. Most of the rookies will make a minimal impact. The “best” players went to teams who have proven not to be able to harness and develop talent in the past, and many of those franchises are being guided by executives and head coaches who are novices.

Sorry, Travis Hunter isn’t making the Jaguars instant contenders, even in that shaky division. And most of the drafts I liked the most – Arizona Cardinals, come on down – aren’t going to be able to move the needle immediately. This time of year it’s pretty simple for me – follow the quarterback-head coach combos that are clearly ahead of the curve and look for the best value.

Packers to win NFC North (+275, DraftKings)

I was probably a year early on the props I made on the Packers a year ago, and I’m more than willing to get back into that space. Jordan Love was never healthy from the moment he tweaked his lower body on that soft turf in Brazil, and Green Bay never built up the kind of momentum I expected. The team added much-needed weapons for Love and some very interesting players to help in the outside running game. Jeff Hafley having a second year to solidify his defense will be big. The Lions lost way too much brain power to overcome, and I still have real reservations about their defense. The Packers have the most talented QB in the league and a big-time head coach. The Bears, with a rookie head coach, will have a learning curve to navigate, though I could buy them as a wild card team.

Packers to win NFC (+1000, DraftKings)

They should have done this two years ago before awfully bad luck intervened in San Francisco in the postseason. The Packers are still a young team, but one with legit playoff experience; that’s a lethal combination in the postseason, where young legs are key but novices tend to fail. They’ve already showed out on the road in the playoffs, and we know Lambeau in January can provide one of the ultimate homefield advantages. Green Bay is one of the five best teams in the NFL right now on paper, and I was converted from a Jordan Love extreme skeptic into a true believer. He’s got a big bounce-back season ahead and he already started to curb the turnover trend down the stretch in 2024. The defense became a turnover-creator (+12 turnover margin despite Love’s careless play), and I believe the pass rush will be more consistent this season.

Rams to win NFC West (+170, DraftKings)

We made a lot of bank on Rams futures placed well before the start of the last season, and then doubling down (win total, division winner and reach the playoffs props) after a slow start. The Los Angeles defense will be even better this year with a better back end to match the vicious front seven. The Rams have the best QB in the division and maybe the best coach in the NFL right now. Getting Matthew Stafford’s contract situation resolved and letting him see for himself the grass wasn’t greener to ensure a full buy-in was huge. If we don’t get a winter storm in Philly during the playoff game, we all know the Rams would have won that game and could well have gone to the Super Bowl. Sean McVay is sticking around for another Lombardi, and don’t look now, but Kyle Shanahan doesn’t have his number anymore. I still expect the 49ers’ offensive and defensive lines to be major issues, and I suspect they’ll be selling players at the deadline. I don’t feel good about the health of Trent Williams or Christian McCaffrey. Arizona’s Kyler Murray peaks in October every year and runs out of gas, and Sam Darnold has come up small with expectations on his shoulders and pressure to perform his entire career. Bet the Rams win the division by more than 2.5 games. 

Texans to win AFC South (+115, FanDuel)

Trevor Lawrence is just not very consistent. Period. And consider me a skeptic on Liam Coen, the boy genius head coach. The Colts’ QB situation is untenable and the coach and GM enter the season with targets on their back. The Titans will take some steps forward, but not enough to keep pace with the Texans. Firing Bobby Slowik was vital for Houston. Concocting a screen game with simple checkdowns and contingencies for CJ Stroud will go a long way, and these players will run through walls for DeMeco Ryans. Year 2 of contention, when you become the hunted, is tough — even with a great young QB (yes I will be fading the Commanders) — as this group found out. But they are in the perfect division to put it back together in 2025, and despite all their issues a year ago they were still the class of the AFC South.

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