King of Props: Staying engaged

Since the Buccaneers’ playoff position was already set, Tom Brady could have sat out the Week 18 game against the Falcons and given his 45-year-old throwing arm some rest. But that’s just not how the GOAT operates. He promptly opened the scoring by finding tight end Kyle Rudolph in the end zone, thereby throwing a touchdown pass to the 98th different receiver of his illustrious career. As Brady faces the Cowboys in what might be his last game at Raymond James Stadium, we’re backing another one of his targets for our top prop:

The bet: Over 24½ receiving yards for Buccaneers wide receiver Russell Gage (DraftKings)

That regular-season finale was a homecoming for Gage, who was drafted by Atlanta in 2018. After four seasons with the Falcons, he joined the migration to Tampa Bay and was rewarded by scoring a career-high five touchdowns.

Establishing himself as the primary third receiver, Gage has logged more than half of the offensive snaps in each of the last four games and cleared this number in the three that Brady finished. Meanwhile, heralded former Falcons teammate Julio Jones missed a pair of them and played less than 30% of the time in the other two.

The Dallas defense has struggled for the past month, allowing opponents to complete passes at the fifth-highest success rate. With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin drawing most of the secondary’s attention, Brady should be looking Gage’s way with regularity.