Lions vs. Panthers Predictions, Picks & Odds: Will Young Impress in Final Preseason Tuneup?

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24 August 2023

Lions vs. Panthers Predictions, Picks & Odds: Will Young Impress in Final Preseason Tuneup?

The Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers will wrap up their preseason with a matchup at Bank of America Stadium on Friday night. Here are our Lions vs. Panthers predictions based on the best NFL odds.

The Carolina Panthers will get one last look at rookie quarterback Bryce Young before the regular season begins when they face off with the Detroit Lions in their final preseason tune up.

Young and the first-team offense have failed to impress over the Panthers' first two appearances. The No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft has gone 7-for-12 for 56 yards through two preseason games and has only led one scoring drive that ended in a field goal. He's also been sacked twice and hit a number of other times.

Panthers head coach Frank Reich has already announced that the offensive starters will play in the preseason finale.

"Sometimes a lot of teams won't play their starters in the last preseason game. We're going to play Bryce and play our offensive starters," Reich said to Augusta Stone of Panthers.com. "(We) still want to get more reps; I think we had about 20 last week or something like that. It's kind of TBD again. It could be about the same, could be a little less, could be a little bit more. (We would) like to get a little rhythm going, accomplish certain things. So, we'll play it by ear."

So, while the Panthers enter Friday's game with the established goal of finding an offensive rhythm, the Lions appear to have punted on the remainder of the preseason.

"I think it’s going to look very much like the first two games," Detroit head coach Dan Campbell said when asked about his approach for the preseason finale, according to Jeff Risdon of USA Today. The Lions have sat their starters in each contest.

Taking this information into account, here is our best Lions vs. Panthers prediction (odds via our best NFL betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).

Lions vs. Panthers prediction

Panthers by 1-13 points (+135 via FanDuel) ⭐⭐⭐

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Motivation carries a lot of weight when it comes to wagering on the NFL preseason.

We'll see Young and the Panthers' offensive starters for at least a series or two. And while that does not guarantee points will be scored (the Panthers were shutout 27-0 in their first preseason game), that gives us some degree of confidence that Carolina will attempt to find the end zone before turning to backups.

The Lions also have good reason to sit their starters in a meaningless preseason game. While most NFL teams will have at least two weeks off before the regular season begins, Detroit will be playing in the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 7. So rather than risk Jared Goff et al. to injury, the Lions will be sending quarterbacks Nate Sudfeld, Teddy Bridgewater, and Adrian Martinez back out there to close out the preseason.

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Sudfeld has seen the majority of the work for the Lions and has thrown three interceptions in two games. Bridgewater was signed on Aug. 7 and completed five of 11 passes for 34 yards in his limited amount of action. Martinez only played in the first game and went 4-for-7 for 37 yards. He could get the bulk of the work on Friday.

Though Panthers backup quarterbacks Matt Corral and Jake Luton have also struggled at times this preseason, they've shown enough flashes to be entrusted with getting the Panthers a victory with a winning margin of one to 13 points.

Lions vs. Panthers best odds

FanDuel is the only one of our best sports betting apps to offer this winning margin prop as of Thursday afternoon. Most books are only offering a spread, total, and moneyline.

The Panthers are 0-2 this preseason, so we're not comfortable backing them to win by 14-plus points at +230 odds.

Lions vs. Panthers odds

The spread opened at Panthers -3 and has since moved to -4.5 at most books. The moneyline opened at -160 and could be found currently anywhere from -190 to -225.

There has been minimal movement on the total, which opened at 37. A rogue 36.5 and 37.5 can be found by price shopping.