After weeks of waiting and anticipation, Week 1 of the 2026 NFL regular season is finally here. The 2026 season begins on Wednesday night with a rematch of Super Bowl 60 between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, followed by an NFC West clash in Australia on Thursday night between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams.

Most of the Week 1 action will take place on Sunday, as football fans and bettors alike will get treated to an action-packed 13-game slate. Week 1 will end on Monday night with the Kansas City Chiefs facing the Denver Broncos.

Here on Total Sports Live, I’ll share some of my favorite player prop bets each week, focusing on games that mainly kick off on Sunday. Since it’s Week 1, we won’t play the entire board, as there’s only so much of last season’s data that will matter in 2026.

Needless to say, here are three player prop bets you might want to throw on your card, using odds from DraftKings and FanDuel Sportsbooks.

NFL Best Bets for Week 1

1. Jalen Coker, WR, Panthers: Over 39.5 receiving yards (-114 FanDuel)

While everyone will be focused on the two former No. 1 picks, Caleb Williams and Bryce Young, going toe-to-toe in Charlotte on Sunday afternoon, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jalen Coker deserves some attention as well.

The former Holy Cross star wideout, who received a three-year, $35 million extension this offseason, has a favorable matchup on paper compared to his teammate, Tetairoa McMillan. McMillan will be matched up with Chicago Bears star cornerback Jaylon Johnson. Coker will likely see a combo of Tyrique Stevenson and Cam Lewis, the latter of whom will be playing in the slot for an injured Kyler Gordon.

Last season, Stevenson allowed a career-high 15.5 receiving yards per completion and nine receiving yards per target, as the Bears were without Johnson for part of the season. Coker can play on the outside and in the slot, where he led the Panthers in snaps last season (259 per StatRankings.com), despite missing the first six games with a quad injury.

When the 24-year-old wideout returned, he instantly became one of Young’s go-to targets in the passing game. In the 11 games he played in, Coker went over 39.5 yards five times. That doesn’t even include Carolina’s playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, where he went off for 134 yards on nine receptions (12 targets) and a touchdown.

Given that the Bears’ defense lost a lot of key pieces in the secondary this offseason (Kevin Byard III, Jaquan Brisker, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Nahshon Wright), the Panthers should look to be aggressive against this defense.

2. Matthew Golden, WR, Packers: Over 39.5 receiving yards (-114 FanDuel)

After a relatively quiet rookie season last year, Green Bay Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden should be in store for a breakout sophomore campaign in 2026. The Packers will need Golden to play an integral role in the passing game after Romeo Doubs left in free agency for New England, and Dontayvion Wicks was traded to Philadelphia.

Between Doubs and Wicks, that’s 131 targets from last season now up for grabs. We should expect Christian Watson and Jayden Reed to see an uptick in production, along with Golden. Looking ahead to Sunday afternoon’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, the Packers will have to lean on their passing game with Josh Jacobs dealing with a serious off-the-field situation.

That being said, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores will try to dare Green Bay to run the ball while also sticking their best corners (Byron Murphy Jr. and Isaiah Rodgers Sr.) on Watson and Reed.  That leaves Golden, who saw the second-most snaps out of the slot for the Packers last year (179), per StatRankings.com, to face James Pierre or potentially Murphy.

In the 14 games Golden appeared in last season, the former first-round pick went over 39.5 receiving yards only four times. However, with game-breaking speed (4.29 40-yard dash), he won’t need many targets to create an explosive play or two.

* Another play to consider is Golden’s anytime TD prop at +330 on DraftKings/FanDuel

3. Rico Dowdle, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers: Over 42.5 rushing yards (-112 DraftKings)

For our last play on Sunday’s slate, we got spotlight Rico Dowdle, who is reunited with Mike McCarthy, the new Steelers head coach. Dowdle spent the first four years of his career in Dallas with McCarthy.

In Dowdle’s last year with the Cowboys (2024), which was McCarthy’s final year, the veteran running back had his first 1,000-yard rushing season (1,079 yards and two touchdowns on 235 carries). Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see the two link back up in the Steel City after Dowdle had another 1,000-yard campaign in 2025 with the Panthers (1,076 yards and six touchdowns on 236 carries).

Dowdle enters a situation in Pittsburgh where he will be splitting the backfield with Jaylen Warren, who is coming off a career-high in touches in 2025 (251). On Sunday, the Steelers are facing an Atlanta Falcons’ defense that leaves much to be desired in the front seven and gave up 4.6 yards per carry last season. However, the Falcons have playmakers in the secondary that Pittsburgh shouldn’t look past.

That being said, with an older quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, McCarthy should lean on Dowdle and Warren to help open up the passing game for D.K. Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. If Dowdle gets at least 7-10 carries in Sunday’s game, he should get over 42.5 rushing yards.