NFL preseason Thursday best bets: C.J. Stroud to make his debut

Week one of the preseason kicks off with two games Thursday night.

Some teams are more transparent about preseason playing time than others. For the teams that aren’t, the coach’s and players’ preseason history is often a good indicator.

It’s important to remember games that are treated as player auditions where the final score is meaningless are hard to truly evaluate, and thus bet on. But we broke down Thursday’s slate anyway.

Houston Texans @ New England Patriots (+3.5), O/U 37

The Texans‘ preseason opener will be full of debuts. After a disastrous 3-13-1 season that led to the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft, Houston has a load of young talent it hopes is the future of the team. The best way to develop that young talent is through reps, and those reps start in the preseason.

That’s why rookie quarterb

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