Gus Bets: Top Props for Jaguars vs Panthers in Week 1

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Welcome to Gus Bets!

This column will provide various sports betting plays (primarily player props) ahead of each Jacksonville Jaguars game during the regular season.

Here are my favorite Week 1 wagers.

Dyami Brown over 25.5 receiving yards

Travis Hunter is a clear 'better in best ball' fantasy asset. He has tantalizing talent, a good quarterback, and a great playcaller, which will lead to plenty of spike weeks – but it'll be tough to tell when those big games will come.

GM James Gladstone said last week that Hunter is "rolling full speed" and will be healthy enough to play in Week 1 after managing a shoulder injury in recent weeks. However, he also said "there's a competitive advantage to not knowing what side of the ball he's going to be deployed on fully. If that's half, if that's a mixture, all those sorts of things can vary from one week to the next. I think the fact that that exists is certainly a hand that we'll keep close."

I'll be shying away from Hunter props until we get a better picture of his playing time on offense.

No matter how his usage shakes out, expect free agent addition Dyami Brown to be a pillar of the passing game. He was one of the offense's best players throughout offseason practices as he built a strong connection with Trevor Lawrence down the field and in the red zone.

Though he will run plenty of 'clear out' routes for Hunter and Brian Thomas Jr., the Jaguars will also want to get the ball into Brown's hands to utilize his athleticism. The former Commander was the only NFL player (min. 20 targets) to see a designed read on over 50% of his targets last year, per Fantasy Points.

"You look at somebody that’s able to attack the field at all three levels," Coen said of Brown after he was signed. "He can go down the field on the post, in the go, in the pylons and be the top shelf, but also you can throw him a screen and he can go and do something with it. I can’t coach that. I can’t coach you to go and make three people miss after you’ve caught the ball. We can try. I’ll teach an obstacle course, some open field running, sideline stiff arm, but at the end of the day, we’re getting the play so you can go be you with the ball in your hands. That’s what he can do."

Considering his under-discussed role in the offense and his penchant for big plays, Brown only needs a couple of targets to clear this line.

Travis Etienne over 57.5 rushing + receiving yards

Call me crazy, but I'm still a believer in the ACC's all-time rushing leader.

Etienne is the most talented player in Jacksonville's running back room. Injuries have slowed him down throughout his career, but with fresh legs to start the season, it's giddy-up time.

"He's lined up in multiple different spots and handled the workload that we've given him that is different than just lining up either behind the quarterback or next to him," Coen said on Wednesday. "We've got to use him as a guy that can help make plays because there's only so many plays you can dial, like they have to be able to do something with the ball to be special, to continue to take the offense to the next level and turn those 10 play drives into four play, five play drives to where we can create some explosives."

Etienne should see multiple designed touches in the Coen's pass attack and has a favorable matchup on the ground against a Panthers defense that ranked dead last in rushing yards, yards per attempt, and rushing first downs allowed in 2024.

His receiving prop of 14.5 yards is also enticing, but I've always liked the rushing + receiving line when betting on Etienne since it protects against wonky game scripts.

Brian Thomas Jr. over 76.5 receiving yards

Thomas posted 11 games of 75+ yards last season, the most by any NFL rookie in the Super Bowl era. Only Justin Jefferson had more such games in 2024.

What's crazy is that Thomas hasn't even begun to peak. He rewrote record books despite playing with two different quarterbacks in a stagnant offense. Now that Trevor Lawrence is healthy and Liam Coen is in town, the sky is the limit.

The Panthers have a very good CB1 in Jaycee Horn, who signed a lucrative contract extension in the offseason, but the rest of the secondary is lacking. Thomas should pick up where he left off against a Carolina unit that surrendered the fourth-most catches of 15-plus yards last year.

Tetairoa McMillan over 4.5 receptions

The eighth overall pick was expected to be a target hog for Carolina even before Adam Thielen was traded and Jalen Coker was placed on IR. The Panthers' top three receivers are now McMillan, Xavier Legette (who ranked 69th among 83 receivers in YPRR last year), and Hunter Renfrow (who was released on cut-down day before being re-signed).

"T-Mac" should have no issues dominating targets from Day 1. He's a 21-year-old early declare who averaged 108 and 110 yards per game as a true sophomore and junior at Arizona. He'll present a real challenge for Tyson Campbell and company on Sunday.