Week 18 of the 2025 NFL season kicks off on Saturday, when one of the biggest games on the entire slate takes place between the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Neither team is all that good, but this is still a game that will likely decide the winner of the NFC South — which will result in a home game during Wild Card Weekend to open the postseason.
Our expert’s have been cashing Same Game Parlays left and right throughout the 2025 season, including 2 in Week 16 and another SGP at +675 odds in Week 17. Let’s keep the momentum rolling with our SGP for this 4:30 pm ET kickoff on ESPN. Also be sure to check out our full Panthers vs Buccaneers predictions.
Panthers ML (+125)
Mike Evans (TB) to score a touchdown (+160)
Parlay odds: +600
Part of the value in a Same Game Parlay, of course, is that each of its components don’t need to be correlated if you so choose. That is the plan here, as Tampa Bay receiver Mike Evans scoring a touchdown does not necessarily correlate with a Panthers win. In turn, this should drive up the overall payout of the parlay. Let’s break down each of the 2 legs for our SGP.
Panthers ML over Buccaneers (+125)
The downfall of the Buccaneers over the second half of the season has been pretty startling to watch, but it was easy to see it coming given how fortunate Tampa Bay was over the first half of the campaign in terms of turnover luck and close game results. Tampa Bay has not covered the spread since Week 10, and the Buccaneers dropped the first meeting against Carolina due to a Baker Mayfield interception on the game’s final drive. Mayfield is clearly struggling without former coordinator Liam Coen at the controls of the offense, and I expect that to continue into this contest.
On the other side of things, head coach Dave Canales has put the Panthers into a good position to make the playoffs and it’s clear that he has instilled confidence in his quarterback. Bryce Young has also emerged as a more dependable thrower of the football in his third season as a starter, and he should turn in a good performance against a Tampa Bay defense that is fairly depleted in the secondary. Let’s take a shot on the Panthers to spring the upset against a team that has not functioned well in the favorite role all season long.
Mike Evans (TB) anytime touchdown scorer (+160)
While Baker Mayfield has struggled over the last 2 months, he should be laser focused on getting Mike Evans the ball in a must-win game on Saturday. Evans has clearly been Mayfield’s top target over the years, and he has been targeted numerous times since returning from injury a few weeks back. Evans has tallied 3 touchdowns in as many games since his return, which inherently gives this number a bit of value now that we’re getting Evans well into plus money against a middling secondary. Let’s cash in with the Buccaneers’ top target in this one.
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