NFL Week 17 picks: Giants vs. Raiders and top betting angles

NFL Week 17 picks straight up and against the spread

The penultimate week of the 2025 NFL regular season features a mix of low-stakes divisional clashes and pivotal games with playoff and draft implications, including a critical Giants-Raiders matchup in Las Vegas.

From potential record-breaking performances to battles for seeding and survival, Week 17 offers bettors and fans several angles to watch across the holiday weekend slate.

Week 17 overview

Happy Holidays – the penultimate week of the 2025 NFL regular season is upon us. However you might not exactly enjoy what's underneath the tree on Christmas – the Yuletide's three streaming contests not exactly crackling with compelling subplots or playoff implications despite their intra-divisional pairings.

Christmas Day streaming matchups

The Cowboys-Commanders, Lions-Vikings and Broncos-Chiefs games make up the Christmas streaming slate, but the intra-divisional pairings do not bring especially strong storylines or high-stakes playoff drama.

Saturday’s more compelling slate

Saturday's couplet is a bit more compelling, Texans-Chargers a rematch from last season's playoffs and potentially a preview of what goes down next month. The Green Bay Packers host the Baltimore Ravens in the night game – both squads residing on the edge of wild-card contention, Baltimore requiring a win to simply survive mathematically into Sunday.

Sunday’s key storylines

Sunday afternoon isn't exactly loaded with must-see football, either, though several teams will be jockeying for seeding or trying to stay alive. Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett could set the single-season sack record against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who could clinch the AFC North crown … unless the Ravens do that for them by losing Saturday.

Eagles-Bills and Bears-49ers look good on paper, the latter – which is the "Sunday Night Football" offering – bound to have significant impact on who gets the NFC's No. 1 seed, which comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage.

Giants vs. Raiders: draft stakes in Las Vegas

Yet, believe it or not, the most important game of Week 17 might be the one in Sin City, where the Las Vegas Raiders will host the New York Giants – they share a league-worst 2-13 record – in the game that could determine who picks atop the 2026 draft.