NFL Best Bets Today

Where today's best bets come from

Every day we track the picks of more than 100 paid handicapping services. When enough of them end up on the same side of an NFL game, that side becomes one of our best bets, and it gets a star rating.

The ratings, from strongest down, are LOCK, Platinum, Diamond, Gold and Silver. Two things decide the rating: how many experts are on the side, and how one-sided the split is. Twenty experts for and two against is a much stronger signal than twenty for and fifteen against, and the rating reflects that.

A pick only stays on the page until its game kicks off. Once the game is under way it drops off and goes into the record.

The record is public

We'd be skeptical of any picks page that hides its results, so ours doesn't. Above the picks you'll find the record of the star-rated picks overall, for the last 7 days, for yesterday and for each rating on its own. If one rating is running cold, you'll see it before you bet.

Reading an NFL pick

Each card names the game and the bet type: the point spread, the moneyline or the total (over/under). Next to it is the expert count, for and against. A pick with a big "for" number and almost nothing "against" is a crowd of handicappers who looked at the same game and came to the same answer.

Spreads move during the day, so the number on the pick may not match the line on the board an hour later. Check the current line before you place anything. If the spread has moved a point or two against the pick, the bet you'd make now isn't quite the bet the experts made.

Spread, moneyline or total?

A spread pick is a prediction about the margin: the favorite has to win by more than the points, the underdog can lose by less. A moneyline pick only needs the team to win the game, and the price tells you how much you risk to win how much. A total pick is a bet on the final score, over or under the posted number. A best bet can be any of the three. A strong lean on the total in a Thursday, Sunday or Monday night football game gets rated the same way a spread pick does.

The free pick of the day and Full Access

Our top NFL pick is open to everyone and marked "Free pick of the day". When that game kicks off, the next pick in line opens up, so on a full Sunday there's usually a free one available for the next window of games.

The other picks' sides and the names of the experts behind them are for Full Access members. Full Access also lets you bet moneylines up to -1000 instead of -300 and converts your Free balance at twice the rate. Everyone sees every side 10 minutes after a game starts.

Betting the picks for free

You don't need a deposit to bet any of this. New players get a Free Bet Balance, and you can put it on today's NFL games from the NFL odds board, where you'll find the spread, moneyline and total for each game plus first-quarter, first-half and team total lines. Free bets aren't real money. When your balance runs out and your bets are graded, it refills. Every $100.00 of Free balance converts to $1.00 of Paid balance. Want to tie two or three NFL bets together? Parlays are on the board too.

If you'd rather play for cash, the Streak Contest has you pick one game at a time to build a winning streak, and the Monthly Contest leaderboard pays real cash prizes by PayPal. A star-rated pick is a fair place to start a streak, though no pick is a sure thing.

Two more free NFL tools

Expert picks are one opinion. For a second look, the NFL consensus picks show the share of bets and money on each side of every game, free for everyone. Our NFL computer picks come from a model that picks every game against the spread and on the total, with its own star ratings and a free public record. It's worth a look when the experts, the model and the betting public all point the same way, and just as much when they split.

Questions and answers