NFL Week 5 anytime touchdown scorer predictions and prop bets

It has not been a great week for the NFL so far. One of its top stars, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, suffered a ruptured tendon in the middle finger on his right hand during Seattle’s Thursday Night Football loss to the Los Angeles Rams. It required surgery and he is expected to miss at least a month. Adding insult to injury for the league, the teams it is showcasing in London on Sunday are the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets. Nonetheless, there should be plenty of intrigue found elsewhere, including in a Sunday night showdown between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.

For the purpose of this piece, however, we are discussing touchdowns. Who will light up the Red Zone Channel by finding the end zone at least once this weekend? Let’s take a look at our best TD scorer bets for Week 5, in descending order of likelihood per the odds.

Favored to score – Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys (-145)

To say the Dallas Cowboys’ offense is in fine form would be a gross understatement. They have scored 97 points during their 3-game winning streak. In this hot stretch Elliott has rushed 53 times for 309 yards and 4 touchdowns. There should be plenty of spoils to go around when Dallas hosts the New York Giants in Week 5, including for Elliott. The Giants are yielding 122.8 rushing yards per game and have surrendered 5 TDs on the ground. Elliott scored 3 times in 2 games against the Giants last year.

Slight underdog – Terry McLaurin, WR, Washington Football Team (+125)

The New Orleans Saints are seventh from the bottom of the league in passing defense, allowing 283.3 yards per game. That is especially alarming because they held Green Bay to 186 in Week 1 and then faced Sam Darnold of Carolina, Mac Jones of New England, and Daniel Jones of the Giants. Those guys are in solid form, but they shouldn’t be lighting teams up through the air. Taylor Heinicke should have plenty of success on Sunday, especially since he is riding a wave of momentum from a comeback win over Atlanta last weekend. Through 4 weeks, McLaurin has 25 catches on 38 targets for 354 yards and 3 touchdowns. He torched the Falcons for 123 yards and 2 scores on 6 receptions while being targeted 13 times. Look for McLaurin to stay hot with at least one more TD against New Orleans.

Bigger underdog – Ja’Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals (+140)

Unsurprisingly, it has not taken long for Chase and Joe Burrow to develop the same kind of connection they had with each other at LSU. Actually, it didn’t take any time at all. Four games into his rookie season, Chase has 17 receptions on 25 targets for 297 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Green Bay Packers have already given up 10 TDs through the air, tied for the fourth-most in the league.

Longshot – Hunter Henry, TE, New England Patriots (+240)

New England rookie quarterback Mac Jones is looking better and better with each game and Henry is one of the beneficiaries. Over the past 2 weeks the tight end has hauled in 9 of 11 targets for 68 yards, including a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend. Now the Patriots face a terrible Houston Texans team that is in the bottom half of the league in passing defense. Houston is fourth-to-last in the league in sacks with 7, so Jones should have plenty of time to throw the ball. At +240 to score, Henry has good value.

Anytime Touchdown Scorer FAQs

What does “anytime touchdown scorer” mean?

Anytime touchdown scorer is a popular player prop bet that NFL bettors can wager on throughout the season. But what is it, and how do you win?

As the name suggests, placing a wager on the anytime touchdown scorer market is when you tip a particular player to score a touchdown during a game. This can be a rushing or receiving touchdown for an offensive player, or you can wager on a team’s defense/special teams to score a touchdown by interception return and fumble return or kickoff and punt returns.

If your player or defense scores a touchdown, you win! The odds will differ from player-to-player depending on the sportsbooks’ calculated probability of that player scoring.

Does anytime touchdown scorer include passing touchdowns?

Not for a quarterback, no. A player must get into the endzone, himself, in order to qualify as an anytime touchdown scorer. If a quarterback throws a touchdown pass, only the player who caught it counts as the scorer. If Tom Brady throws a touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski, wagers placed on Gronkowski as an anytime touchdown scorer will cash. However, those placed on Brady as an anytime touchdown scorer will not. See below for more on what the anytime touchdown scorer market means for quarterbacks.

What does anytime touchdown scorer mean for a QB?

For a wager on a QB to be an anytime touchdown scorer to cash, he must follow the same rules as a running back, tight end, or receiver. He must get into the endzone himself, either as a runner or a pass-catcher.

In the age of the mobile quarterback, QBs such as Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and Josh Allen are often seen rushing in for a touchdown on any given Sunday. And don’t forget the occasional Philly Special, either. QBs can sometimes catch passes for TDs, too.

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