2022 Hall Of Fame Game: Raiders vs. Jaguars Best Bets

It feels like it’s been forever, but the NFL will finally return on Thursday night when the Las Vegas Raiders take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in the annual Hall of Fame Game. Coverage will be presented on NBC and Peacock with Football Night in America at 7:00pm EST followed by kickoff at 8:00pm EST. Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth and Melissa Stark will be on the call for the first time together as NBC’s new top team while Jason Garrett will join Maria Taylor, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Chris Simms, Jac Collinsworth and Mike Florio in the studio aspect of the show, so there will even be some intrigue around this game from a broadcasting angle as well.

As with any preseason football game, starters won’t play much (if at all) in this game, but there are still some betting angles to take advantage of when accounting for the personnel that will be on the field. Check out the live odds for this game below and scroll down for my full breakdown of both teams followed by a few best bets.

Hall Of Fame Game Odds

The Raiders are slight favorites, but what really sticks out here is the total. Ranging from 29.5 to 33.5 across all of our sportsbook partners at the moment, this is expected to be a very low-scoring game which makes sense. The Cowboys in 2017 were the last team to score 20-plus points in the Hall of Fame Game and teams typically trot out second and third-stringers for the majority of the time, coupled with vanilla playbooks. This game (and most early preseason games) are used by coaching staffs as a gauge of how their team looks cadence-wise, and also as a method of figuring out position battles. As you’ll read in a second, there will be no shortage of those positional battles in this contest. Let’s start with the Jaguars.

Jacksonville Jaguars Outlook

New Jaguars head coach Doug Peterson was forthcoming about the fact that most of his starters will not see the field in this game and the ones that do will see about a series or so. Most notably, starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne will both sit, joining running back James Robinson and second-string quarterback C.J. Beathard. First-teamers like right tackle Jawaan Taylor, defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi and kick returner Jamal Agnew will also miss the game due to injury.

This sets up a very clear opportunity for third-year quarterback Jake Luton, who will battle Kyle Sloter for the No. 3 QB spot in the preseason. Luton will get the start and should see at least a half, if not more, of playing time in this game. Meanwhile, the No. 3 running back spot will also be up for grabs. Rookie running back Snoop Conner has the edge against fourth-year veteran Ryquell Armstead, but those two should split the majority of the carries in this one.

Of Conner and the position battle with Armstead, Peterson recently said (per Sports Illustrated), “I like where he's at. I like his progression right now. He's done well with blitz protection and seeing things and catching the ball out of the backfield. Again, these games coming up now are going to be very meaningful to him. That's a competition battle that we're going to really keep our eye on.”

The team announced its unofficial depth chart for the postseason on its official website which also revealed a few potential opportunities for certain players to contribute. At wide receiver, veteran Marvin Jones Jr., free agent signee Christian Kirk and Zay Jones were all listed as starters, which means Laquon Treadwell, Laviska Shenault Jr. and Tim Jones (all second-teamers) should all receive opportunities to stand out. Pass-catching specialist tight end Dan Arnold is also listed on the second team and should be another target for Luton. 

Defensively, first overall pick Travon Walker most likely won’t see the field at all. If he does, it’ll likely be for the first series only. However, this Jaguars team should be able to win in the trenches on both sides of the ball against a Raiders team that’s in desperate need of help in that regard. 

If you’re playing DFS, Luton and Conner are must-plays in cash games, but taking a shot on Sloter at QB and/or Armstead at RB would be solid contrarian tournament plays, as would targeting one or two of the aforementioned wideouts or even Arnold.

Las Vegas Raiders Outlook

While it would be really cool to see what the Raiders offense looks like with Derek Carr, Davante Adams, Josh Jacobs, Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow all on the field together, that most likely won’t happen in this contest since this is the first of four preseason games that Vegas has. However, there are a few fun competitions to keep an eye on in this one. 

Let’s start with the backup QB spot. With Carr penned in at the top of the team’s unofficial depth chart, there’s a wide-open competition between Jarrett Stidham, Nick Mullens and rookie Chase Garbers for the No. 2 spot. Not only that, but each of them bring something different to the table. Stidham has familiarity with new head coach Josh McDaniels’ system from New England. Mullens has proven he can throw for a boatload of yards as a starting NFL quarterback. Garbers could be a steal that other teams slept on in the draft. All three will presumably see time under center and McDaniels hasn’t tipped his hand whatsoever, taking a page out of Bill Belichick’s book.

Then comes the running back position behind Jacobs. Brandon Bolden, Kenyan Drake, Ameer Abdullah and rookie Zamir White figure to be the main threats to snaps behind Jacobs, but this coaching staff will evaluate this position very closely. I can see White seeing around 10 carries while Drake and Abdullah see some third-down work since both probably won’t end up making the 53-man roster in any other role.

Finally, with Adams and Renfrow locked in as wide receiver starters, who else will contribute behind them? Some options include Mack Hollins, who has turned heads in training camp, Keelan Cole, Demarcus Robinson, Isaiah Zuber, DJ Turner and Tyron Johnson. 

McDaniels will likely give the 26-year old Johnson substantial playing time in this contest, as these recent comments indicated (via Silver And Black Pride):

“I’m really proud of him. Everybody knows he’s fast, but it takes a lot more than being fast to play in our league at that position, and he’s working extremely hard to be prepared,” McDaniels said. “He’s prepared every day and he knows what his assignments are. He has been able to really connect with the quarterbacks and different things. He works hard in practice. He takes care of his body. He’s now becoming that guy that is dependable from day-to-day and that’s a big word for us.

“There is a lot of trust that goes into the passing game and he’s going to have plenty of opportunities to do his thing, and like I said there is a lot of guys in that room that we’re eager to see and that’s what we were trying to do with every position on our team because if we can build competition what happens is T-Billy [Tyron Johnson] makes Mack [Hollins] better, Mack makes Demarcus [Robinson] better, Demarcus makes Keelan [Cole] better, Keelan makes Isaiah [Zuber] and DJ [Turner] better. That’s what we want to do and so I think that’s happening and will continue to happen hopefully.”

Arguably the most interesting storyline from Vegas’ perspective is the return of McDaniels to his hometown of Canton, OH. "I played all my games in this stadium. It was never lost on me that this is a special place," McDaniels told Raiders.com. "They have helmets on the double yellow lines when you're driving down the road. You pass the Hall of Fame every day you go to school in high school. You're playing right there and you can see [the Hall] over the stands. It's a really cool place to grow up. … It was a great place to be a young boy that loved football, and what a blessing that I have an opportunity to come back there."

If you’re playing DFS, I’d stay away from this uncertain QB situation and go with Luton, but White is a fantastic option given his position on the depth chart and presumed workload on the ground. He will be chalky in tournaments, though, so taking a shot on Abdullah or Drake in GPPs makes sense. Hollins is my favorite wideout on either team, followed closely by Johnson, who McDaniels has publicly raved about in training camp as you saw above. I might also take a shot on Mullens, who has upside as a down-field thrower with aggressive tendencies.

Jaguars-Raiders Hall Of Fame Game Best Bets

You know the saying “games are won or lost in the trenches”? That applies in the preseason as well. The Raiders have a ton of uncertainty on their offensive line (across all areas of their depth chart) and their second and third-team units on their defensive line are also filled with question marks. I’m much higher on Jacksonville’s units on both sides of the football, as I am with their quarterback situation in this matchup.

Since the Jags prepared for this game with Luton as the clear QB1 who will be on the field for the majority of the game, they’ll have some solid consistency to build off of on each drive unlike the Raiders, who will split time between three signal-callers. Both teams have playmakers who can produce with the ball in their hands, but I’m giving the Jaguars a slight edge as the underdogs. Here are my recommendations: 

Moneyline: Jaguars

Spread: Jaguars

Total: Over

DFS Must-Plays/Bet OVER For: Luton, Conner, White