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For the third time in the last three years, the Philadelphia Eagles will open their season as favorites in Week 1. The Birds are already favored to beat the Cleveland Browns by 7.5 points, according to Westgate Las Vegas. That's 4.5 more points than the standard three point home favorite. So if you want to bet on the Eagles to win, you have to be confident they'll win by at least eight points.
The Eagles were favored at home against the Jaguars in 2014 and on the road against the Falcons in 2015. Philadelphia split those games by winning the former and losing the latter.
It's not a surprise to see the Eagles favored over the Browns because, well, it's the Browns. They've been bad for a long time. Cleveland finished with the second worst record in 2015. The Browns replaced Mike Pettine with Hue Jackson and made some significant front office changes as well. Despite having ample cap space, the Browns decided to not get very involved in free agency. Instead they let a lot of key players walk right out the door.
The Browns' biggest offseason addition was the signing of Robert Griffin III. The Eagles obviously have familiarity playing against RG3 from his time in Washington.
It's also possible the Browns could draft a quarterback at No. 2. Or, if recent reports are to be believed, the Eagles might actually make a trade with Cleveland to get a quarterback for themselves. Either way, Sam Bradford will be the Birds' starter as long as he's healthy.
So are you confident enough in the Eagles at this point to wager on them?