Super Bowl picks and MVP predictions for 2025 season, plus best bets for Cowboys vs. Eagles on Thursday night

Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!

After 207 days of waiting, football is finally back. The last time we saw an NFL game came all the way back on Feb. 9 when the Eagles destroyed the Chiefs, 40-22, in Super Bowl LIX. As you may or may not know, the team that wins the Super Bowl gets to host the Thursday night opener in the following season, which is why the Eagles are hosting tonight’s game.

With the opener just hours away, we’ll obviously be covering the game extensively in today’s newsletter. Also, I hope you’re not filled up on predictions yet, because we have even more for you today. 

Finally, just as a reminder: Our format is changing this year, and we’ll only be coming to you two days per week during the NFL season: Monday and Thursday. That means the next newsletter from us will be coming to you on Monday. 

As always, here’s your reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. 

1. NFL opener is here: Previewing Cowboys at Eagles

The 2025 NFL season kicks off tonight with an NFC East showdown between the Cowboys and Eagles. Not only did the Eagles sweep the series last year, but they outscored the Cowboys, 75-13. However, Dak Prescott didn’t play in either game and that could be a huge factor tonight because he’s been nearly unstoppable against Philly, going 4-1 in his past five starts against the Eagles. 

The Cowboys will be looking to pull off an upset in a game where they’re 8.5-point underdogs. 

• Why the Cowboys can win: If the Eagles defense has one weakness in this game, it’s in the secondary. Adoree’ Jackson, who’s expected to start at corner, had to win the job in training camp. And safety could also be an issue, with Sydney Brown expected to start. If the Eagles struggle in the secondary, that’s something the Cowboys should be able to take advantage of and that’s because they have one of the best receiving tandems in the league with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Not to mention, Dak Prescott is 4-1 in his past five games against the Eagles, so it won’t be surprising if he puts up some big numbers. If Prescott gets hot, this game could turn into a shootout that could end with the Cowboys pulling of an opening night upset. 
• Why the Eagles can win: This one is simple: Saquon Barkley. The Cowboys surrendered the FOURTH-MOST rushing yards in the NFL last season, and if you toss in the fact that they just traded away their best defensive player (Micah Parsons) last week, this feels like a situation where the Dallas defense could struggle. The Eagles’ best offensive strategy might just be to give Barkley the ball 25 to 30 times. Including the playoffs, the Eagles went 13-1 last season when Barkley rushed for at least 100 yards, and it seems like there’s a very real chance he’ll be able to hit that number again in this game. If that happens, the Eagles will likely come away with a win. 

You can get a full preview of the game from Jared Dubin by clicking here. Adding more spice to this game is the fact the Eagles actually tried to make a trade for Parsons over the summer, but the Cowboys shot them down. (You can read more about that here.)

The Eagles will be looking to repeat as Super Bowl champs this year, but it’s not going to be easy. Here are five reasons why it probably won’t happen (from Cody Benjamin). 

If you’re thinking about betting on the game, here are a couple of props I like:  

• ONE RUSHING PROP I LIKE: Saquon Barkley OVER 93.5 rushing yards (-115): The last time we saw Barkley on the field during the regular season came in Week 17 against the Cowboys last year in a game where he ran for 167 yards. The Cowboys couldn’t stop him then and I’m not sure they’re going to be able to stop him now. This is a pretty high number, but I feel like the Eagles are going to feed Barkley to get the offense going. If that happens, I think there’s a pretty good chance he’ll end up crossing the 100-yard mark. 
• ONE KICKING PROP I LIKE: Brandon Aubrey OVER 7.5 total points (+105): The Cowboys kicker closed out the 2024 season by going over this number in seven of his final eight games. Aubrey is the ultimate kicking weapon in the NFL and the Cowboys won’t be afraid to use him. I think the Cowboys offense will be able to move the ball on the Eagles and because of that, I won’t be surprised if we see Aubrey’s total hit double digits. 

Finally, if you’re wondering who we’re picking, here’s who we have:

My pick: Eagles 34-24 over Cowboys
Dubin’s pick: Eagles 34-21 over Cowboys
Pete Prisco’s pick: Eagles 27-24 over Cowboys

Over on our CBS Sports picks page, all eight of us are taking the Eagles to win, but only six are taking them to cover. You can see our picks for this game, along with all of our Week 1 picks, here. 

2. Super Bowl predictions: Everyone is on the Ravens

With just a few hours to go until the start of the NFL season, we finally got everyone here at CBS Sports to turn in their Super Bowl predictions. After going through all the votes, I have found that everyone is on the Ravens this year. 

Out of our 15 experts, NINE of them have the Ravens in the Super Bowl and seven of them have Baltimore winning it all. On the other hand, NO ONE has the Chiefs even making it to the Super Bowl, which is definitely a surprise. Even the Texans got one Super Bowl vote, which is one more than the Chiefs got. 

The Eagles were the most popular Super Bowl pick in the NFC with seven experts picking Philadelphia to get back to the big game, but only one of us has the Eagles pulling off a repeat. 

Let’s get to the predictions: 

• Cody Benjamin: Ravens over Packers
• Jared Dubin: Ravens over Packers
• Mike Renner: Ravens over Eagles
• Kevin Steimle: Ravens over Eagles
• Emory Hunt: Ravens over Eagles
• Zach Pereles: Ravens over Eagles
• Jeff Kerr: Ravens over Eagles
• Ryan Wilson: Texans over Eagles
• Bryan DeArdo: Eagles over Bills
• Katie Mox: 49ers over Bills
• John Breech: 49ers over Ravens
• Garrett Podell: Packers over Ravens
• Pete Prisco: Bills over Packers
• Josh Edwards: Bills over Packers
• Tyler Sullivan: Bills over Lions

If you want to check out our entire prediction page, which includes all 15 of us predicting the winners of each award, then you’re going to want to click here. 

3. NFL MVP picks: Here’s who we’re predicting to win

Now that we’ve made our Super Bowl picks, it’s time to move on to our NFL MVP picks. We had nine writers weigh in on this, and after going through all the votes, I noticed the only position we voted for was quarterback, which I guess makes sense since the MVP has been won by a quarterback for 12 straight seasons. (Adrian Peterson was the last non-QB to take home the award all the way back in 2012.)

There were only four different players who received at least one vote. Here’s a look at the list of players along with one writer who voted for them:

All NFL odds via FanDuel Sportsbook. 

• Jared Dubin: Lamar Jackson (+490). I think the Ravens might have the best roster in the NFL, and Jackson is playing at the highest level of his career. He could easily have won the MVP again last year, and if he comes close to repeating his performance, he’ll take it down for the third time this year.
• Pete Prisco: Patrick Mahomes (+600). The offensive line is fixed, the speed is back and it’s time for him to get back to being Mahomes the gunslinger. The numbers are going to be big again. 
• Cody Benjamin: Joe Burrow (+600). Pick your favorite elite passer for this one. Jayden Daniels offers a bit more in the way of dual-threat magic, but Burrow is primed to keep slinging it with ease now that his top two wideouts are both locked up on new deals.
• Breech: Brock Purdy (+2200). This award seems to go to the quarterback who plays on the best team, and I think the 49ers are going to finish with the top record in the NFL this year. 

If you want to see our fully tally of votes, be sure to check out our story here. 

4. Award winners: Our writers give their takes on Coach of the Year and Rookie of the Year

Now that you’ve read our MVP picks, we have even more award picks to make. We’re going to make our predictions for Coach of the Year along with the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year. 

We had 15 experts vote on each award, and here’s what our final voting tally looked like: 

COACH OF THE YEAR
1. Sean Payton, Broncos (3)
T-2. Matt LaFleur, Packers (2)
T-2. Mike Macdonald, Seahawks (2)
T-2. Mike Vrabel, Patriots (2)
Others receiving votes: Aaron Glenn, Jets (1); Ben Johnson, Bears (1); John Harbaugh, Ravens (1); Liam Coen, Jaguars (1); Sean McDermott, Bills (1); Todd Bowles, Buccaneers (1). 

OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Titans QB Cameron Ward (6)
2. Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty (5)
Others receiving votes: Broncos RB RJ Harvey (1), Jaguars WR Travis Hunter (1), Packers WR Matthew Golden (1), Colts TE Tyler Warren (1)

DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
1. Giants OLB Abdul Carter (7)
2. Eagles LB Jihaad Campbell (3)
T-3. Packers OLB Mykel Williams (2)
T-3. Jaguars CB Travis Hunter (2)
Others receiving votes: Ravens OLB Mike Green (1)

If you’re wondering who I voted for, I took Vrabel as my Coach of the Year. In the DROY category, I was the lone person who voted for Green, and I’m extremely confident in my pick after nailing the DROY last year with my Jared Verse prediction. In the OROY category, I took RJ Harvey. 

5. Five bold predictions for the 2025 season

At this point, you probably thought we were done giving you predictions, but guess what, we’re not. We asked CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell to come up with five bold predictions for the 2025 season, and Mr. Podell definitely came through. 

Here’s a look at three of his bold predictions for the year: 

• Chiefs will win their division, but not the AFC. This season, the Chiefs will once again win their division, but they won’t go 15-2 again to clinch homefield advantage. Eleven of Kansas City’s 15 regular season wins from a year ago were by one possession, and they went a perfect 11-0 in one-score games, which tied an NFL single-season record with the 2022 Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings took a major step back and went 7-10 the following season in 2023. Kansas City will still win the AFC West, but losing its grip on the No. 1 seed and having to play on the road will be its undoing come January.  
• Travis Hunter wins BOTH Rookie of the Year awards. New Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen is one of the league’s top play-callers, and there’s definitely a path to where Hunter could play mostly wide receiver and then corral enough interceptions defensively to get voters’ attention. Hunter became the first player in FBS history (since 1978) to produce a season with more than 1,000 receiving yards (1,258 receiving yards) and more than three interceptions (four). That’s why he won the Heisman Trophy. That two-way ability is also why he could make NFL history by taking home both Rookie of the Year awards in 2025. 
• Cardinals win a playoff game. Former top-five pick Marvin Harrison Jr. will take a leap in Year 2 to become a Pro Bowl wide receiver, and the Cardinals’ revamped defense will transform into a top 10 unit in scoring defense after the addition of former Eagles edge rusher Josh Sweat, the return of defensive tackle Calais Campbell and the draft selections of first-round defensive tackle Walter Nolen and second-round cornerback Will Johnson. That will lead to Kyler Murray outdueling either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Atlanta Falcons — whoever wins the NFC South — in the NFC’s opening round of the postseason for Arizona’s first playoff win in a decade. 

Podell had a total of five bold predictions, and you can see his full list here. 

6. Extra points: Roger Goodell would love a Taylor Swift halftime show at the Super Bowl

It was a busy weekend in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. 

• Roger Goodell open to Taylor Swift halftime show. If Taylor Swift wants to do a Super Bowl halftime show, it sounds like she has an open invite. “We would always love to have Taylor play,” Goodell said this week when asked about Swift doing the halftime show. “She is a special, special talent and obviously, she would be welcome at any time.” You can read his full comments here. 
• Nik Bonitto gets massive extension from Broncos. The Broncos star pass-rusher will be sticking around Denver for awhile after agreeing to terms on a four-year, $120 million contract that includes $70 million in guaranteed money, CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones has reported. Bonitto, who was a second-round pick in 2022, was headed into the final year of his rookie contract. The 25-year-old had a career year last season with 13.5 sacks, which ranked third in the NFL. 
• Jajuan Jennings gets revised contract with 49ers. Jennings requested a trade earlier this offseason after getting into a contract dispute with the 49ers, but it appears the two sides have now mended things. According to ESPN, the 49ers have added $3 million in attainable incentives to Jennings’ contract this year, so he’ll be able to earn up to $10.5 million overall if he hits every incentive. Jennings’ deal will still expire after the 2025 season, so he’ll be able to hit free agency and potentially cash-in next offseason. 
• Patriots will eventually put up a Belichick statue. There is no Bill Belichick statue at Gillette Stadium, but there will eventually be one. Patriots owner Robert Kraft confirmed that this week. “When Bill’s coaching career ends, we look forward to sitting down with him and having a statue made to be right next to [Tom Brady’s statue],” Kraft said. We’ve got more on the potential statue here. 
• Giants are selling 10% of the team. The Giants are currently owned by two families with the Mara family and the Tisch family each holding a 50% stake in the team. That will be changing in the near future with the Koch family expected to buy 10% of the team for $1 billion, according to Bloomberg. The Koch family already owns a partial stake in both the Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty, and now they’re adding a piece of the Giants. The sale of this stake values the Giants at an NFL-record $10 billion. You can read more about their purchase here. 
• 2026 NFL schedule won’t have a Friday game in Week 1. There will be a Friday game in Week 1 this year when the Chiefs face the Chargers in Brazil, but there won’t be one next year. Not only that, but we could see a Wednesday game or even a Labor Day game in 2026. If you want to know why, we’ve got the full explanation here.