Trending
Green Bay arrives at Acrisure Stadium on August 13, and two days later Cleveland opens its preseason in Chicago. Both games arrive with more uncertainty than the depth chart suggests.
Cleveland is still working through its quarterback competition, while Pittsburgh has decisions to make over how much work its established players receive before September. For anyone following preseason odds, those details can matter more than comparing what the teams did last winter.
Quarterback rotations will matter before the final score
Cleveland's competition between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson remains unresolved entering the exhibition schedule. They have shared first-team work during camp, with Todd Monken indicating that the evaluation will become clearer as more of the offense is installed.
That makes the opening game in Chicago more than a simple warm-up. A recent look at Cleveland's ongoing quarterback competition has detailed how the quarterbacks have moved between units during camp.
A quarterback working behind the first offensive line may get a very different opportunity from one taking snaps later with younger receivers and reserve linemen. Even the same play can look different depending on protection, field position and which receivers are available.
Pittsburgh has less uncertainty at the top. Aaron Rodgers is established as the starter, leaving the preseason to provide useful work for the quarterbacks behind him and for players competing further down the roster.
How long the first unit stays together against Green Bay will shape the opening part of the game. One or two series from the starters creates a different contest from a full quarter of first-team football. It also changes how much can realistically be learned from the early score before the game moves into reserve-heavy line-ups.
What changes after the starters leave
The second half of an exhibition game can look little like the first. Backup quarterbacks take over, offensive lines are reshuffled and players near the bottom of the depth chart receive the snaps coaches need to evaluate them. A team that looked sharper early can spend much of the second half using combinations unlikely to appear together once the regular season starts.
Those later snaps still matter inside the building. A reserve receiver may be judged on route discipline and blocking as much as catches, while defensive backs can earn attention through coverage work that never appears in a box score.
Special teams carry more weight here too. For players competing for the final few roster places, a coverage assignment or return can matter more to coaches than the score at the end of the night.
The scoreboard covers four quarters, but the personnel may barely resemble each other from one half to the next.
Preseason odds need more than last season's record
A December result can tell plenty about two established NFL teams. By August, playing-time plans may tell more.
One side might give its starting offense two series while the other leaves an experienced backup quarterback on the field for much of the second half. A revised depth chart or late playing-time announcement can change the picture again before kickoff.
That makes timing important. Information available when a line first appears may be less useful once coaches confirm who will sit, who will start and how long particular units are expected to play. The American Gaming Association reported $16.89 billion in commercial sports-betting revenue in 2025, 22.6 per cent more than the previous year.
August occupies an unusual corner of that market. Information released late in the week may matter more to a preseason matchup than a statistic collected months earlier, particularly when the strongest players are only expected to appear briefly.
Football season brings sportsbook offers back into view
Football's return also changes what appears around the odds themselves. Sportsbook pages begin filling with seasonal promotions, but the headline figure rarely tells the whole story.
Minimum deposits, qualifying wagers, bonus-bet conditions and state availability differ between operators, and promotional credit may come with its own expiry period. For readers comparing those conditions, Covers keeps a current list of sportsbook promo codes alongside minimum-deposit, qualifying-bet and state-eligibility details; the sports-betting information site is cited here because those terms differ between operators and are regularly updated.
Two offers carrying similar headline values may work quite differently once the qualifying wager, type of credit and eligible location are taken into account.
Ohio betting happens mostly online
Ohio's latest figures put digital sports betting far ahead of retail sportsbooks The Ohio Casino Control Commission recorded about $651 million in online sports-gaming gross receipts in June 2026, compared with roughly $7.8 million through retail locations.
Operator revenue followed a similar split. Online books reported approximately $67.8 million for the month, against just over $1 million from retail sportsbooks. Across the first six months of 2026, online sports-gaming revenue reached about $497.7 million, with retail locations contributing around $6.2 million.
Pittsburgh gets its first preseason look against Green Bay on August 13. Cleveland follows in Chicago on August 15. By then, camp reports and depth charts will have turned into actual snaps, and the quarterback rotations will be there for everyone to see.