Week 1 is here, and with it comes one of the cleanest bets on the board: anytime touchdown scorer. No fancy math, no complicated angle - if your guy gets in the end zone, you cash. If he doesn’t, you’re done.
That’s the kind of prop SI Betting’s senior editor Iain MacMillan and managing editor Peter Dewey will be tracking every Sunday during the 2026 NFL season, with their favorite plus-money touchdown picks aimed at helping readers find value in a market that usually has it.
For Sunday’s slate, the focus lands on two names: Carolina wideout Tetairoa McMillan and Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton.
McMillan comes into the season with serious momentum after closing 2025 in a big way and winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. He played all 17 games for Carolina, caught 70 of 122 targets for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns, and scored five times over his final seven regular-season games. He also produced in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Rams, finishing with five catches on seven targets for 81 yards.
The matchup is appealing, too. Carolina opens against a Chicago Bears defense that leaned on turnovers in 2025 but had issues in coverage, ranking 17th in EPA/Play and 27th in success rate. The Bears allowed 20 touchdown receptions to opposing receivers, third-most in the NFL, and gave up the seventh-most receiving yards to wideouts.
McMillan is viewed as the clear No. 1 target in the Panthers’ passing game, and the price looks workable with the total moving from 44.5 in the lookahead market to 46.5 on Sunday. Bryce Young is another reason for the optimism here, with McMillan tied to a quarterback the handicapper is higher on than most after signs of growth over the last two seasons.
Otton is the other name worth circling, and the case starts with the Bengals’ track record against tight ends. Cincinnati allowed the most receiving touchdowns to the position last season, and if that weakness shows up again, Tampa Bay’s top tight end could be in line for a productive opener.
Otton caught 59 passes in 2025 and is set to serve as the Buccaneers’ primary tight end this season. Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
In Other News...
Panthers Already Sent A Harsh Message To The Bottom Of The Roster
Jimmy Horn Jr.s NFL start with the Panthers ended almost as quickly as it began. A few days after he muffed a punt in Carolinas Week 1 loss to the Bears, the rookie wide receiver was waived, a sharp reminder that early-season mistakes can carry real consequences for players trying to carve out a role on the bottom of the roster.
The move also clears the way for a receiver room that already has a different look, with Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, Xavier Legette, Brycen Tremayne and John Metchie III among the names jockeying for snaps. Horn, a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, did not record a reception or rushing attempt in the opener, and now his immediate future in Carolina is very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Defender Sounds Alarm After Carolinas Week 1 Defensive Collapse
Jaelan Phillips did not sugarcoat what happened in Chicago. After the Panthers defense was steamrolled in a Week 1 loss to the Bears, the edge rusher called the performance embarrassing and ugly, a blunt assessment of a unit that spent the day trying to keep pace after allowing 59 points. Phillips still made his presence felt with a sack and several pressures, but the bigger takeaway was the tone he set afterward, one of urgency rather than excuses.
For Carolina, the challenge now is turning that kind of self-criticism into a reset before the problems snowball. Phillips framed the defeat as a critical moment for the defense to learn from, which is exactly the sort of message the Panthers need after a start that left little room for comfort. The talent to make plays is there, but the standard has to rise quickly if the season is going to stabilize. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers May Already Have A Future Answer For Their Secondary
The Panthers are always looking ahead in the secondary, and Georgia safety KJ Bolden is already the kind of name that fits that kind of long-range planning. A rising prospect with first-round buzz, Bolden has drawn attention for the combination of athletic traits and coverage upside that makes him one of the more interesting defensive players in the college game, especially for a Carolina roster that could use more talent and flexibility on the back end.
Bolden is still early in his college journey, but the appeal is pretty clear: he has the kind of range and versatility that can help a defense handle modern passing games, along with the developmental runway teams crave when they are trying to build a secondary for the future. The Panthers are not shopping for answers in next spring's draft here, but if Bolden keeps trending the way evaluators expect, he is the sort of player who could eventually make Carolinas attention feel less like speculation and more like a head start. [Read more 🡒]