NFL Week 18 betting odds, picks, tips

Week 18 of the NFL season brings us all sorts of playoff scenarios, from who’s in and who’s out to seeding. Games without postseason implications can be particularly difficult to navigate because it can be a guessing game of which teams will or won’t play starters or how long they will play.

So what is worth looking at from a betting perspective? And which are the best plays to help you make smart wagering decisions?

Betting analysts Doug Kezirian, Tyler Fulghum, Joe Fortenbaugh, Anita Marks and Erin Dolan, fantasy and sports betting analysts Eric Moody and Andre Snellings, ESPN Stats & Information’s Seth Walder and Football Outsiders’ Aaron Schatz offer their insights into the games with tips and picks.

Note: Lines are from Caesars Sportsbook unless otherwise indicated.

The Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars meet Saturday night to decide the winner of the AFC South (8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC/ESPN+). The Jaguars (-6.5, 40) are winners of four straight, while Tennessee is on a four-game losing streak and dealing with injuries across the board. Who do you see winning this game and earning the division title and fourth seed in the AFC playoffs?

Fortenbaugh: Beer-money bet on the Titans. With nine days or more to prepare for a regular-season game, Mike Vrabel is 9-1 straight-up and 9-1 ATS while beating the closing point spread by close to 15 points per game. Derrick Henry is back, and Joshua Dobbs has another week to figure out the Titans’ playbook. I think this will be a competitive game.

Fulghum: I like the Jaguars to close this thing out, win the game and the division. I don’t love laying the number, but I do love the over 40. Trevor Lawrence is playing incredible football and gets a great matchup vs. a depleted Titans defense that was already one of the league’s easiest to pass against this season. On the other side, Henry is freshly rested to handle a massive workload against a team he has traditionally dominated in the box score.

Schatz: I like the Jaguars in…