NFL Futures Market Preview

DK Metcalf is coming into his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Aaron Rodgers, which in itself is a major boost for a No. 1 wide receiver’s chances of putting up big numbers.

The 824.5-yard mark for Metcalf is a number he has never gone under in his career, and entering a season where, as we said, he has better cohesion with his quarterback should give him the confidence to go over that number once again.

The biggest factor for me in this argument is their head coach and play-caller, Mike McCarthy. The former Cowboys play-caller runs a traditional West Coast offence that prioritises throwing to his best players and doing so at a very high volume. For Metcalf, he is now entering a season with a pass-first unit and a coach who will want to force-feed him the ball, giving him a solid chance to go over this number for an eighth straight season.

Moving on to McCarthy’s former quarterback and current signal-caller of the Dallas Cowboys, Dak Prescott. For me, Prescott is one of the most underappreciated passers in the league, and when you throw in the environment he is in, it is a perfect opportunity for him to put up big numbers once again this season.

We know Dak is an old-school gunslinger who operates from the pocket, and with his elite wide receiver duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, there is a real chance this Cowboys offence goes nuclear.

For mine, Prescott is going to have plenty of opportunities to pad his stats and potentially put together a career year in his current ecosystem, which is why I have him going over his passing touchdowns number this season.

The last player prop we are going with is my breakout wide receiver of the year candidate, Chicago Bears slot receiver Luther Burden.

The second-year pass-catcher had a very solid rookie season, slowly winning the trust of both head coach Ben Johnson and franchise quarterback Caleb Williams. For me, he is in the mould of a wide receiver like Amon-Ra St Brown, who Ben Johnson worked with at the Lions. Like St Brown, Burden is a shorter but compact athlete who is tough in all facets of the game and a nightmare to bring down.

With Rome Odunze not breaking out in the way Bears fans would have liked, it feels like Burden is set to become a primary target for Williams. If he gets the St Brown treatment in this offence, that is going to come with a lot of receptions.

It has been something I have predicted for plenty of seasons now, and the main reason Joe Burrow has struggled to see his name in the MVP conversation late in the season is because injuries have destroyed not only his season, but the Bengals’ seasons as well.

This year, the Bengals have invested on both sides of the ball, which should help with their win total. We all know how important that is for the MVP discussion, and as of early September, all their stars, including the combination of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, are healthy.

When looking at my value pick in Caleb Williams, the talent has been undeniable since he was introduced by Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma. Now, with Ben Johnson seemingly figuring out how to make things click for Williams at the NFL level, he has a real chance to become a very special player in this league.

Closing out the futures picks with the Super Bowl, it is just too hard to look past the Rams this year. For me, they have the best coach in the NFL, the reigning MVP, the best defensive player of this decade and perhaps the best defensive player of the 2010s in Aaron Donald back in the fold.With all of that pedigree, it’s also easy to forget they also have one of the most productive wide receiver duos in the league.

I feel they are going to be hard to stop if, and it is a big if considering the age of their team, they can stay healthy.

If I were to pick a value shot here, I would go with a team built in a similar mould to last year’s winner, the Seahawks. In this case, I am going with the closest possible comparison to that unit in the Houston Texans.

DeMeco Ryans has the second-best defensive unit in the league, while there is still a question mark at quarterback. These were the same kinds of comments being made about the Seahawks this time last year, and who knows, maybe it clicks for C.J. Stroud and the Texans go all the way to the promised land.