The New York Jets lost 24-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL Preseason. That was a game where starting quarterback Geno Smith did not play, but his status is up in the air due to ankle soreness as we head into Week 2.
The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Green Bay Packers 28-9 in their preseason opener. Rookie quarterback Drew Allar was extremely impressive for the Steelers in that game, completing 10-of-13 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns.
It will be fun to watch how the first-year signal-caller follows up that performance, so let’s take a look at NFL prediction markets to see where we can find value.
The Steelers are priced at 58 cents to win this game. This makes sense because of how good Allar looked under center. Plus, Pittsburgh has a veteran in Mason Rudolph, so there’s some quarterback depth here. As such, even with Aaron Rodgers likely out once again, this doesn’t affect the Steelers too much.
On the other side, there’s a chance that Smith is out once again for the Jets, leaving them with a major question mark at the most important position. That would mean that the Jets will likely have to rely on rookie quarterback Cade Klubnik, who completed 5-of-7 passes for 56 yards in his debut.
In terms of other positions, the Jets will be relying on Braelon Allen at running back, since Breece Hall is banged up with a groin strain. However, there’s a good chance that stud wideout Garrett Wilson will see some snaps.
As for the Steelers, both DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. are unlikely to play, which means that we’ll continue to see Roman Wilson and Germie Bernard as the main pass-catchers as they compete for WR3 on the depth chart.
I never want to pay a heavy price on a team to win outright in the preseason, so I’m avoiding buying into the Steelers at 58 cents. Instead, I’ll buy them at Pittsburgh wins by over 2.5 points: Yes at 53 cents. Getting Steelers -2.5 at a five-cent discount feels like the sharper play, since we’re getting below the key number of 3 while risking less in a volatile market like the preseason.
This is a bet on rookie quarterback Drew Allar, who looked fantastic in his preseason debut. There’s a chance that the Steelers have landed on a gem here, as this was a follow-up to positive reports throughout camp.
All we need is a three-point win here, so let’s ride with the Steelers in this spot.
Jets running back Breece Hall suffered a groin strain, which will sideline him for the next 2-3 weeks. While he’s likely to be ready for Week 1, we’ll have to monitor his status going forward.
Jets quarterback Geno Smith is currently banged up with ankle soreness. The good news is that he has returned to practice, so there’s a chance that he’ll see some snaps in this game. But as a veteran, there’s a risk that head coach Aaron Glenn opts to rest him.
Steelers rookie offensive tackle Max Iheanachor, who they selected in the first round of this year’s draft, is out for Week 2 against the Jets due to a shoulder/neck issue.
Steelers third-round rookie quarterback Drew Allar has gotten rave reviews during camp. He just picked apart the Steelers, so we’ll have to see what he can do vs. the Jets.
There hasn’t been much market movement for this game. The Steelers were 61% favorites two days ago, but they’ve slightly moved down to 58% right now. If Geno Smith gets ruled out for the Jets, there’s a chance that the market will move back towards the Steelers’ direction here.
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