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NFL Odds Preview: Lessons from the Offseason

The pads are on, the chinstraps are tightened, the drills have begun. With all 32 teams in full training camp mode, it's time to re-assess the offseason transactions to see who gained big. On both sides of the ball, we'll look at which player and coaching additions could result in drastic point swings in the NFL odds game this season.

ON OFFENSE

Miami Dolphins

After the 4-12 disaster of 2004, quiet optimism surrounds Dolphin camp. And for good reasons: Miami has a new head coach and a revamped running game.

After spectacular results at the collegiate level, former Louisiana State boss Nick Saban arrives in the NFL - odds are he'll be making a difference. Saban transformed an LSU team that went 3-8 in 1999 to a co-national champion in 2003 - the same year Saban won NCAA coach of the year honors.

On the field, the Dolphins will boast one of the most intriguing running-back combinations in recent memory. Controversial veteran Ricky Williams returns while promising rookie Ronnie Brown, taken fourth overall in this summer's NFL odds draft, debuts. With neither one contributing a single Miami rushing yard in 2004, opposing defenses will be burdened with developing a scheme against the duo.

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While Williams still faces much criticism (and a four-game suspension) after his single-season sabbatical from football, his natural abilities cannot be doubted. Prior to his ganja break, Williams averaged 1,270 rushing yards per season. Brown, meanwhile, should be familiar with splitting running duties. The Auburn product shared a backfield with this year's No. 5 overall pick, Cadillac Williams. With Brown and Ricky Williams, many predict Miami could have its finest RB combo since Csonka and Kiick. The NFL odds should be great for Miami to win some games this year.

ON DEFENSE

Dallas Cowboys

Go ahead and say it: The D is back in Dallas. Tired cliché, but for 2005 it fits. The Cowboys are the NFL odds-on favorite to be a defensive machine this season.

While some teams chose to re-build through free agency and others through the draft, the Cowboys did a little of both. The draft was a defensive coup for head coach Bill Parcells, nabbing Troy State's all-everything DE/LB Demarcus Ware with the 11th overall pick. Ware will provide versatility to the Dallas defense, with the odds of him being NFL rookie of the year very high. His the ability to line up as a lineman or linebacker will allow the coaching staff to flip between 3-4 and 4-3 defenses with ease. Nine picks later, Parcells took monster LSU DE Marcus Spears, the only 300-pound defensive end in the draft. Spears and Ware will be immediately thrust into action, hoping to revamp a defense that allowed 25 points per game in 2004, sixth worst in the league.

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But it's not just the youth movement that has opposing scouts wary of the Cowboys defense. The NFL odds for the Cowboys making the playoffs are high. The team beefed up with a trio of free-agent signings: DT Jason Ferguson, and CBs Aaron Glenn and Anthony Henry.

Ferguson looks to be the prize of the crop - a nine-year veteran who broke into the league under Parcells while the Big Tuna was with the New York Jets. Glenn and Henry are veteran ballhawkers who will aim to improve the Cowboys' takeaway numbers.

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