The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-4) travel north to face the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL – the Kansas City Chiefs (7-0) – on Monday Night.
Tampa Bay has had an up-and-down start to their season. The Buccaneers have lost two straight games, dropping home contests against the Baltimore Ravens and their NFC South rival Atlanta Falcons.
Kansas City has won all of their contests, but some have been by tight margins. The Chiefs have won five of their seven games by a touchdown or less, yet the addition of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins will help this sputtering offense thrive before the postseason.
Will the Buccaneers make this a close game, or will Kansas City run away with their eighth consecutive victory to start the 2024 NFL regular season? We’ll cover that and our top three player prop bets below.
After Tampa Bay’s surprise run to the NFC Playoffs last season, the Buccaneers signed quarterback Baker Mayfield to a three-year, $100 million contract extension this offseason. He’s rewarded that decision by completing 71.1 percent of his passes this season for 2,189 yards and 21 touchdowns, but he’s thrown nine interceptions, too.
Mayfield has not been extremely accurate in his last three games, tossing seven of those interceptions during that span. More importantly to bettors, he’s also achieved at least 300-yard performances in each of those contests, meaning you can bet with confidence that Mayfield will again do so on Monday Night against the Chiefs.
Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, um, we mean Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has finally righted the ship after a rocky start to this year’s voyage. The 35-year-old receiver has finished with 70 yards in three of his past four outings, making him the team’s leading receiver after eight weeks.
With receiver Rashee Rice out, quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been forced to look to his security blanket more this year than most seasons. His newest receiving option – the aforementioned Hopkins – could eventually overtake that role from Kelce. Until then, however, pick the Swifty to cover every receiving player prop bet for his squad.
With Tampa Bay’s pass-first offense, the Buccaneers are running on just over 42 percent of their plays. When the team does run the football, they’re doing so with the tandem of Rachaad White and Bucky Irving.
While White seemed to be the safer play heading into this season, Irving has out-touched White in two of the team’s past three games. He’s gained over 32 yards in five of the past six outings, giving bettors confidence Irving will cover this player prop bet.
It’s not that we’re expecting the Buccaneers to win this contest. But Kansas City has not proven to be dominant in these wins. With Tampa Bay needing a win to remain competitive in the NFC South, expect the Buccaneers to keep this game close throughout Monday night.