NFL Expert Picks for Week 3 of 2025

The season keeps ticking and we keep picking. Last week was particularly brutal for the entire panel with some game being nothing like we expected.

Two game in particular really stood out as ones that made perfect sense when we first made the picks, but the games themselves played out in weird ways. The first was the Seahawks beating the Steelers, in which 7-of-10 pickers went with Pittsburgh only to see Aaron Rodgers and co. get whooped. The far bigger surprise was on Sunday night though when J.J. McCarthy turned into a pumpkin on national TV, giving the Falcons the win. The panel were 9-of-10 for Minnesota in that game, thinking their comeback win over the Bears to open the season was indicative of more success to come.

How wrong we were.

Week 3 is a minefield of injuries and tricky picks. Bengals vs. Vikings is one that’s very difficult to parse due to injuries to both Joe Burrow and J.J. McCarthy, making this the QB duel between Jake Browning and Carson Wentz we all expected. Meanwhile in an NFC West divisional matchup we have the battle of the 2-0 teams with the Cardinals and 49ers locking horns. There’s no doubt San Francisco is the better team on paper, but injuries to George Kittle and Brock Purdy’s status being up in the air has this game on shaky ground.

Here are our picks for Week 3.