NFL Week 10 line moves: Calm waters after a wild weekend

Unlike the last few weeks, the market has been quiet leading up to Week 10. There haven't been any wild swings in point spreads due to the absences of stars like Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott, and Baker Mayfield. This week's market moves have been considerably more subtle.

The line for this game started where it is now, but it's taken a round trip. Sharp money pulled it toward the Browns, who were deemed to be the better team despite being an underdog, dropping the line down to Patriots -1. Able to take New England at home needing just to win, and with Cleveland missing Nick Chubb, bettors grabbed New England to push the line back to -2.5.

On the surface, there's no more insignificant full-point move than going from +9.5 to +8.5, as games rarely land with a margin of nine. However, at Steelers -8.5, sportsbooks are open to having bettors tease Pittsburgh down under a field goal. Clearly, oddsmakers are willing to take on that risk after seeing the Steelers in prime time Monday night.

Mike White is out here moving lines! The latest Big Apple sensation gets the nod to start his third straight game. That was enough to see this number dip off of Bills -13, when it was presumed that Zach Wilson would return.

While White has brought some excitement, it's hard to imagine that his presence would've been better than what Josh Johnson provided in relief against the Colts, and the Jets were still unable to cover double digits in that game. But the defense is the bigger issue here, as the Bills should be focused all week after losing to the Jaguars.

The Cardinals went from -10 to -10.5 after Sam Darnold was ruled out. It's not a major move, which tells you all you need to know about Darnold's future in the league.

Interestingly, Kyler Murray's return hasn't yet been confirmed, indicating that either oddsmakers are sure he'll be starting Sunday or Colt McCoy was effective enough that they don't care. Last week, the drop-off to McCoy was worth 8 points in the market. Should Murray not be able to go, it's hard to believe this line won't drop back into the single digits.

This game opened with the Chargers favored by 2.5 points, but Dalvin Cook's off-field issues and the Vikings' COVID-19 scare have bettors almost driving this line to -3.5. The public also poured in on the Bolts last week, with Los Angeles as a short road favorite, and was rewarded for it. But if the Vikings' core can go in L.A., getting a field goal with Minnesota might be a nice discount ticket to have.

This is the biggest mover of the week, and I'm not sure why. The Packers opened as 5.5-point favorites, but this has dipped to -3.5, and in some places -3, after it was confirmed Russell Wilson would be back. However, it was already widely expected he'd be returning.

Rodgers will likely rejoin the Packers this week, and I expect that confirmation to send this spread back up above where it is now.

Matt Russell is a betting writer for theScore. If there's a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on Twitter @mrussauthentic.

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