There is potential for explosive offense in the NFL's 2022 season opener.
The Bills are the Super Bowl favorites, with Josh Allen leading a potentially high-powered offense. The Rams are the reigning Super Bowl champions, led by Matthew Stafford under center and Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp out wide.
That doesn't mean we're going to automatically be betting every player's over, though. The two defenses are stout, and there will undoubtedly be some rust before these offenses really start clicking.
Using our Action Labs Player Props tool, I have identified two player props that our expert projections see value in betting.
Bills vs. Rams Player Props
Cam Akers
Under 10.5 Receiving Yards
Akers went over this total in three of the Rams’ four playoff games, but he averaged 18.75 touches per game in those. There is a very, very small chance that the third-year RB gets that number in this game.
Akers is healthy and has a full offseason behind him after tearing his Achilles last summer, which is a positive. The negative about his workload is that Darrell Henderson has been operating pretty much as a co-starter for the Rams in camp. Even Sean McVay has indicated that both will have a role to start the season.
Akers only had eight receptions in those four playoff games compared to 67 carries, so he’s not some pass-catching specialist. Even if he catches one or two balls, we could still hit this under.
Dawson Knox
Under 37.5 Receiving Yards
As of Wednesday night, this number was only available at DraftKings. It was 35.5 at most other books. Action Labs projects him for 33.1.
Knox is about to get paid, to the tune of a reported four-year extension worth $53 million. He had a big year last season, with 587 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. He’s a popular play in the anytime TD market, as picked by our Gilles Gallant.
But that doesn’t translate to yardage. It just means he’s a great red-zone target at 6-foot-4.
Including the Bills’ two playoff games last season, Knox went over just 35.5 only five times in his last 11 games. He also only caught touchdowns in four of those.
