{"id":391625,"date":"2026-01-07T16:28:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=391625"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:28:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:28:22","slug":"nfl-wild-card-prop-bets-predictions-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/nfl-wild-card-prop-bets-predictions-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL wild-card prop bets: Back Travis Etienne and Christian McCaffrey, fade Bryce Young in playoff debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Two star running backs are the focal point of these NFL wild-card weekend prop bets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NFL wild-card prop bets narrative:<\/strong> The Jacksonville Jaguars surprised everyone this year with a 13-win season, and they host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Travis Etienne should have a big workload against Buffalo&#8217;s suspect defensive front. Elsewhere, look for Christian McCaffrey to be active as a pass-catcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my top NFL wild-card prop bets, featuring a fade on Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Join NorthStar Bets to start betting on the NFL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NFL wild-card prop bets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Etienne over 15.5 rushing attempts (-118)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was deliberating between backing Etienne to clear his rushing total (66.5 yards) or his rushing attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both make sense, but here&#8217;s why I think this is the better play:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Etienne is a bell cow:<\/strong> The fifth-year RB ranked eighth in carries this season (260), averaging 16.3 rushing attempts following Jacksonville&#8217;s Week 8 bye. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Buffalo&#8217;s run defence:<\/strong> The Bills rank bottom five in yards per attempt (5.1), rushing yards per game (136.2) and RBSDM.com&#8217;s EPA per rush. Liam Coen will be incentivized to pound the rock. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Jacksonville&#8217;s defence<\/strong>: The Jaguars rank first in EPA per play during their eight-game winning streak, allowing just 14.5 PPG.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Bet on player props from Bills vs. Jaguars here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That last point is important because I can&#8217;t imagine Buffalo running up the score and forcing Jacksonville into obvious passing downs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Josh Allen can only do so much with a lacklustre receiving corps, and the Jaguars should put up enough points to keep a balanced game plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Etienne is 6-4 against this line in his last 10 games, with at least 12 rushing attempts in each contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Visit NorthStar Bets for all NFL wild-card betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Best NFL picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Young over 0.5 INTs (-125):<\/strong> You know which team should run up the score? The Los Angeles Rams. That means Young <em>will <\/em>be forced into plenty of passing situations, and I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;ll end well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Carolina stumbled backward into the playoffs with consecutive losses and a season-long -69 point differential. The Panthers (+10.5) are the largest home underdogs in NFL postseason history.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>L.A. finished second in the vaunted NFC West and led the league in scoring (30.5 PPG) behind an MVP-calibre season from Matthew Stafford.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I expect the Rams to boat race the Panthers, and for Young to take some risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2023 No. 1 overall pick did have the best game of his career against L.A. in Week 13, completing 75.0% of his passes for three TDs and a 147.1 passer rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That won&#8217;t scare me off this wager, though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young threw an interception in nine of 17 games this year and ranked 28th out of 35 qualified QBs in EPA per play. He also threw a pick in Weeks 17 and 18 to end the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Fade Bryce Young vs.\u00a0Rams<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NFL player prop prediction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>McCaffrey over 5.5 receptions (+100):<\/strong> This is a tough matchup for McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers, who are tasked with cracking the Philadelphia Eagles&#8217; rabid defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting the run game going might be difficult, meaning Kyle Shanahan will have to scheme the ball into his best playmaker&#8217;s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That shouldn&#8217;t be a problem. McCaffrey has a strong case to win Offensive Player of the Year thanks to his elite dual-threat abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Don&#8217;t miss out \u2014 bet on the NFL wild-card slate<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He hauled in 102 receptions for 924 receiving yards this year. Only five other position players had more catches than the tailback.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CMC&#8217;s 23.5% target share ranks in the 100th percentile among RBs, per Rotowire. That&#8217;s just a shade under some big-name wideouts like Nico Collins and DeVonta Smith.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And it&#8217;s not like the matchup is completely horrible, as Philly allowed the seventh-most receiving yards to RBs this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>NFL wild-card prop bets made at 3:03 p.m. ET on Jan. 7, 2026<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-> <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.com\/promoRedirect?key=ej0xMzUyNTA0MiZsPTEzNTI1MDAwJnA9ODMzNw%3D%3D\">Sign up to NorthStar Bets today<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two star running backs are the focal point of these NFL wild-card weekend prop bets. NFL wild-card prop bets narrative: The Jacksonville Jaguars surprised everyone this year with a 13-win season, and they host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Travis Etienne should have a big workload against Buffalo&#8217;s suspect defensive front. Elsewhere, look for Christian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":391544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,61],"tags":[181],"class_list":["post-391625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-nfl","tag-nfl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NFL wild-card prop bets: Picks, predictions &amp; odds | The Boost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our 2026 NFL wild-card prop bets. 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