NFL picks 2017, Week 1: Experts see wins for the Packers and Steelers

The football season is finally upon us. It’s Week 1. With a whole new year of NFL games ready to start, that means it’s time to reconvene our panel of — ahem — experts to make picks for every single game.

Not a ton of consensus in this week’s picks, which is understandable. We’ve got nothing but training camp and meaningless preseason games to go on. The Bengals are the closest thing to a lock this week, according to our panel. They’re unanimous in being picked to beat the Ravens, even with Joe Flacco back in action finally.

The other game with unanimity in the pick is the Colts-Rams tilt in Los Angeles on Sunday. It’s not that the Rams are especially good; it’s more that the Colts have Scott Tolzien filling in for Andrew Luck and a bunch of other injuries.

Let’s meet the panel real quick, because we’re doing something a little different this year.

I’m Ryan, the NFL editor here at SB Nation. Joining me are Adam, Harry, and Jeanna, our staff writers at the NFL desk here. Last year’s returning picks champion, retired NFL defensive end Stephen White, is back too. We’ve also got Joel Thorman, the Blog Father from Arrowhead Pride, our Chiefs site, and the league manager for our NFL sites. New to the mix this year is retired NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz.

This year we’re inviting a special guest to join us each week to make picks. This week, it’s Brandon Lee Gowton from Bleeding Green Nation, our network Eagles site.

Here are the picks. Remember, we let our panel members change one pick, if they want, on Friday to account for unforeseen circumstances, like injuries. So be sure to check back.

Please note that this table was updated to reflect the Bucs-Dolphins game getting moved to Week 11.

Check out this week’s Onside Kick Family Hour, SB Nation’s NFL podcast with Stephen White and Ryan Van Bibber. Subscribe to the show here.