Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season has finally arrived.

After starting the year on a winning note on Thursday night, it’s time to turn our attention to the first Sunday of the season with our first installment of FanDuel Best Bets from the TSN EDGE team.

Each week of the season, Luke Bellus, Chris Amberley, Eric Cohen, Evan Render, Connor Ford, and myself – Domenic Padula – will make our predictions and provide a little insight into the process behind our decisions.

Whether it’s a side, total or player prop, our goal is to do our best to give out as many winners as possible every single week.

So, let’s kick it off.

Here is a look at our FanDuel Best Bets for Week 1 of the NFL season.

Domenic Padula: 49ers -6.5 at Bears

We’ve spent a lot of time counting down to the first Sunday of the NFL season.

I’ve spent much of it betting against the Chicago Bears.

I bet the Bears to finish with under 6.5 wins at -140, under 5.5 wins at +180, and to finish with the worst record in the NFL at +1100 over the summer.

It should be no surprise that I bet against Chicago again in Week 1.

The Bears have a new general manager and a new head coach, but they didn’t do much to upgrade their current roster this off-season, and they lost several key veterans including Khalil Mack and Allen Robinson.

There’s no incentive for Chicago to win now.

In fact, it’s likely better for the Bears to be as bad as possible this season as they look to build towards the future.

On the other hand, the 49ers want to win now.

Trey Lance is now the starting quarterback in San Francisco, but Jimmy Garoppolo remains on the roster following a roller-coaster off-season.

Garoppolo threw for 322 yards in a 33-22 win in Chicago when these teams met last season, and while Kyle Shanahan expects Lance to lead the 49ers back to the Super Bowl, Jimmy G is there to step in if called upon.

The defence that San Francisco put up 33 points against last season was better than the current version for the Bears.

The 49ers rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns in that victory, and there’s really no reason to expect them to take a different approach on Sunday.

On the other side of the football, Chicago’s offensive line gave up a league-high 58 sacks last season and did nothing to dramatically upgrade the protection in front of Justin Fields.

As long as Lance doesn’t implode, the San Francisco rushing attack and defence should be able to do more than enough for the 49ers to beat the Bears by seven points or more.

San Francisco -6.5 is my FanDuel Best Bet for Sunday.

Luke Bellus: D.K. Metcalf Over 57.5 receiving yards 

I’ve already given out some of my favourite plays on my new weekly column, Now We Go.

So for the sake of no overlap, let’s dive into my favourite prop for Monday Night Football.

D.K. Metcalf is a motivated man coming into Week 1. 

The Seahawks wideout enters this season looking to prove that this team can still compete without Russell Wilson. 

And now they get the chance to go head-to-head against their former quarterback. 

Metcalf on Monday Night Football wants to make a statement, and he’s got a quarterback in command that should funnel the ball his way. 

Last year, in his four starts, Geno Smith targeted Metcalf 23 times and the two connected on 19 of those passes for 295 yards. 

With Smith under center, this number would’ve cashed in three of their four games together, while Metclf and Wilson connected for more than 57.5 yards in just six of their 14 games together.

Maybe I’ve been spending too much time with Luke Willson, but I’m starting to think this Seattle team might do something special on Monday. 

And if they are going to do something special, Metcalf will be a big reason why. 

Eric Cohen: Steelers +6.5 at Bengals

 It’s a very difficult Steelers’ debut for Mitchell Trubisky, opening on the road against the team that just won their division and came out of the AFC. Trubisky did look good in the preseason and won the job from first round pick Kenny Pickett.

The Steelers open as a 6.5-point underdog, but they were in the exact same situation last year in Week 1 and beat the Bills in Buffalo, so it’s safe to say Mike Tomlin’s squad will be ready to go for week 1. You can expect the Steelers will be motivated to avenge last year’s embarrassing performances against Cincinnati, as they lost both meetings and were outscored 65-20 in those games.

There is always a possibility of a Super Bowl hangover for the team that lost in that game in the previous season. The Bengals came up just short against the Rams and weren’t able to have an ideal training camp as star quarterback Joe Burrow had his appendix removed in late July and wasn’t able to practice until the middle of August.

The Bengals have a more talented team but it might take them a while before they look like the team that came out of the AFC last year. Pittsburgh still possesses a stellar defence and have been eyeing this game all off-season to prove they can still compete with the top tier teams in their division. I see a very tight game that is decided in the final minutes so I am taking the 6 and a half point with the Steelers!!

Evan Render: Saints at Falcons over 42.5

Now, without even looking at the total, I’ve circled this game all summer as one that’ll probably be on the higher scoring side.

Scouting the week 1 board, it caught my eye that this was the third-lowest total of the week – surprisingly - considering both of these teams have some fire-power on the offensive side of the ball.

I truly believe Marcus Mariota is an upgrade on the 2021-2022 Atlanta version of Matt Ryan. We saw some great flashes from the former number 2 overall pick in Las Vegas, and I think with a pretty smart offensive coach in Arthur Smith, Atlanta’s quarterback play will improve.

On the defensive side, Atlanta was dead last in the entire NFL in sacks with 18. They’re not likely to get to Jameis Winston, which’ll give him a clean pocket all afternoon. Additionally, here’s a list of defensive categories last season and the Falcons’ ranks:

YPG: 26th

Opposing QBR: 26th

Opposition 3rd down %: 30th

Opposition PPG: 29th

Translation: Atlanta’s defense was bad. Real bad. Well, it’s not likely to improve.

Jameis Winston alongside an arsenal of top-tier offensive weapons should be enough for him to carve through them with relative ease.

This number is just too low for me to pass up on, with two potentially good offensive teams, and a defense on one side that’ll likely be one of the worst in the NFL, again.

Give me Saints/Falcons over 42.5 points. 

Chris Amberley: Eagles Over 26.5 Points 

The Philadelphia Eagles matchup versus the Detroit Lions is incredibly favorable this week, especially on offence.

Jalen Hurts can beat you with both his arm and his legs, and his skill position players are incredibly dangerous.

The Eagles made a huge splash in the trade market, acquiring AJ Brown, one of the league’s premier wideouts. Pairing him with Heisman trophy winner DeVonta Smith, speedster Quez Watkins and tight end Dallas Goedert, gives Hurts one of the league’s top pass catching corps.

Philadelphia was the third best rushing team per DVOA last season, and we shouldn’t expect a drop-off. Pro Football Focus recently graded the Eagles offensive line as the top unit in football, and they should maul a Lions defensive line that grades out in the bottom-seven.

Detroit’s secondary is also a bottom-eight graded unit per PFF, and simply can’t matchup with Philly’s receivers.

On the other side of the ball, the Lions offence profiles as a more explosive group than last season, giving us hope that they can push the Eagles for four quarters.

That puts over 26.5 points for Philadelphia directly on our radar.

Connor Ford: Marquise Brown Anytime TD +170

The Arizona Cardinals acquired Marquise Brown from the Baltimore Ravens this offseason, and it looks like they’ll need him more than ever in week one against the Chiefs. 

DeAndre Hopkins will be out as he begins serving a six-game suspension. To make matters worse, wide receiver Rondale Moore is dealing with a hamstring injury and won’t play either. Tight end Zach Ertz has been nursing a calf injury he suffered in training camp and is listed as questionable.

That’s where Brown comes in. In 2021, he ranked 12th in target share (26.7%) and 16th in red zone targets (16), while posting career highs in receptions and yards. 

Kyler Murray already has an established connection with Brown from their playing days at Oklahoma. With options in the receiving game looking thin, Brown should be the go-to guy for Murray.

FanDuel expects there to be a lot of scoring, with this game seeing the highest total of week one at 53.5. We know the Cardinals start the season hot… they’ve averaged 29.7 points per game in week one since 2019. 

Against a Chiefs secondary that lost Pro-Bowl safety Tyrann Mathieu this summer, I believe Brown has a great shot at finding the end zone on Sunday.