With the first six weeks of the NFL season in the books, things are starting to heat up around the league.

The San Francisco 49ers set a spark with the blockbuster trade for superstar running back Christian McCaffrey, which came just days after the NFC West rival Arizona Cardinals traded for Robbie Anderson.

There’s already a major disparity between the teams at the top of the NFL pyramid and the teams at the bottom.

The top contenders have an opportunity to add to their rosters before the trade deadline, and their pursuit of a Super Bowl ring could create a flurry of activity between teams.

So far this season, underdogs have covered at a 58.4 per cent rate, which makes this the eighth straight season underdogs have been over .500 through Week 6.

Will that trend continue through Week 7 and beyond?

Here are some of our best bets for this NFL Sunday.

Domenic Padula: Kenneth Walker III over 66.5 rushing yards

Kenneth Walker III rushed for 97 yards on 21 carries in his first NFL start against the Arizona Cardinals last week.

Now he gets to face a Los Angeles Chargers’ defence that just allowed veteran Latavius Murray to rush for 66 yards on just 15 carries in a narrow win over the Denver Broncos last week.

Prior to that, the Chargers gave up 100+ rushing yards to each of Nick Chubb, Dameon Pierce and James Robinson in three consecutive weeks.

Walker has averaged 5.5 yards per carry this season.

As long as he hits that mark against Los Angeles, he’ll need only 13 carries for the over to hit on his rushing yards prop.

I’ll take Walker over 66.5 rushing yards as my FanDuel Best Bet for Week 7 NFL Sunday.

Eric Cohen: Cleveland Browns +6.5 vs Baltimore Ravens

Since starting the season 2-1 the Browns have fallen off a cliff the last 3 weeks losing every game and getting embarrassed at home by New England last week. If you look closely at the 4 Cleveland losses this year only once (last week) did they actually lose by more than a field goal. Because of this I think we are getting an inflated line here as Baltimore should not be favoured in this range.

The Ravens are just 1-2 in their last 3 games and have not covered in any of them, as their lone victory came by 2 points at home versus Cincinnati 3.5-point favourite. Bottom line - the Ravens have struggled on defence all season and have been unable to hold leads dating back to Week 2.

Baltimore will be without J.K. Dobbins for at least a month and when you look at the Ravens offence Lamar Jackson just doesn’t seem to have a lot of options right now. Jackson threw a terrible interception last week costing them a win in New York and his play has been very inconsistent since starting the season on fire.

The Browns should be able to keep this game close with a steady dose of Nick Chubb. Take away last week’s stinker against New England, Chubb is averaging over 118 rushing yards a game this year and against a defence that has struggled getting stops all season. I see a tight divisional game decided in the final minutes so give me the Browns +6.5   

Chris Amberley: New York Jets under 18.5 points

As a Packers fan, what happened against the Jets last week was flat out embarrassing. But let's not confuse the J-E-T-S with a good football team, especially on offence.

New York accumulated only 110 passing yards and 278 total yards in that contest. They needed a blocked punt return TD and a trick play that resulted in a touchdown just to reach 27 points.

This team ranks 23rd on offence per DVOA, and features sophomore Zach Wilson who grades out as the seventh worst starting QB per Pro Football Focus.

Wilson has been especially bad under pressure this season. He's completing a laughable 17.4% of his throws under duress, and he can expect the heat to be on all game against the Broncos.

Denver has its own issues to worry about on offence, but on defence they are elite. They grade out second on that side the ball per DVOA, and generate pressure at the league's sixth highest rate.

The Broncos have allowed just two teams to exceed 18.5 points, and only one of those opponents eclipsed 19 points. They rank third in scoring defence and are yielding an NFL low 1.2 touchdowns per game.

I’ll take the Jets to stay under 18.5 points on Sunday.

Evan Render: Tampa Bay Buccaneers team total over 25.5 points

Couple losses in a row here after a scorching hot 4-0 start.

We’re due for a bounce back, and so are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

There’s a variety of reasons why I like them - for lack of a better term – to trounce Carolina, a team that some people are starting to believe could be the worst in football.

Let’s start with how Tom Brady has fared against the Panthers since joining the Bucs in 2020.

Record: 4-0

Points for: 150

Points against: 63

Yes, you could argue this version of Tampa Bay *may* not be as strong as years prior, but that same argument also applies to Carolina.

Tampa’s offence should have no issues against this pass rush, and a secondary without their best player (Jaycee Horn), in a spot that seems to be the perfect “get right” game for a team with high hopes.

26 points really isn’t too tall a task if you take a look at data around the NFL and how other teams have performed lately.

Scoring is up a little more over the last few weeks compared to week 1-3, and I think Tampa’s offence hasn’t come close to the top of their range.

This is a perfect spot for the GOAT to get it going, silence the critics/doubters and lay an absolute beating on an NFC South rival that may not win a game for the rest of the season.

Give me TB team total over 25.5. on FanDuel (-116).

Connor Ford: Tyreek Hill Over 80.5 Receiving Yards

Last week I picked Mike Evans to have a big day against this suspect Pittsburgh Steelers defence, but he failed to go over his receiving prop on a tough day for the Buccaneers. This week I’m going right back to the well with Tyreek Hill. 

Heading into this season, there were many questions surrounding the departure of Hill from Kansas City. Many wondered how Patrick Mahomes would fare without his most dangerous weapon, and how Hill would adjust to life with a new quarterback.

Well… they seem to be doing just fine. Mahomes is tied for the league-lead in touchdowns and Hill is on pace for maybe his best season, leading the NFL with 701 receiving yards through six games. 

Hill is dominating in almost every advanced metric you can think of. Among receivers with 40 targets this season, this is where he ranks: 

1st in Yards Per Route Run (3.59) 

4th in Targets Per Route Run (0.33) 

5th in Target Share (29.4%)

3rd in Air Yards (666)

4th in Catch Percentage (75.8%) 

As I outlined last week, the Steelers pass defence is awful. They allow the third-most passing yards per game (277.8) and have given up the second-most yards to the wide receiver position. They lead the NFL in explosive plays allowed (catches of 15+ yards).

Hill is averaging a league-leading 116.8 yards per game, and while he hasn’t put together big performances in consecutive weeks yet, this matchup is just too good to turn down. 

With Tua Tagovailoa set to return from a two-game absence, I expect him to lean on his favourite target all night in a big primetime matchup on Sunday Night Football.

Luke Bellus: D.J. Moore Over 4.5 receptions

I’ve been ice cold in this column this season, so fade this pick if you want.

But be warned, I’m about to get hot.

P.J. Walker once again gets the start this week for Carolina, and he’s only got one person left to throw to.

With Christian McCaffrey traded to San Francisco and Robbie Anderson out of the mix, it’s going to be all D.J. Moore, all the time this week.

In the three games Walker has started in the NFL, Moore has 14 catches with 25 targets.

In 2020 Walker and Moore connected seven times in a game without McCaffrey in the lineup, and I like them to have a similar week on Sunday.