Nick Giffen

Nick Giffen

1147 Posts
Nick Giffen
1147 Posts
Role
Predictive Analyst
Experience
10 years
Total Bets
3.7K
Followers
259.2K

Summary

Nick Giffen is a predictive analyst at Action Network and is the creator of the NFL Luck Rankings. He also hosts Bet What Happens Live! on Action Network’s YouTube channel during the NFL season, and co-hosts Running Hot, Action’s auto racing podcast.

Aside from the NFL, Nick uses his projection models to specialize in NASCAR betting and DFS, NCAA basketball player props, and projections for top soccer tournaments.

Experience

After getting his Ph.D. in mathematics, Nick worked in the biotechnology industry as a data analyst, working with large data sets to optimize corn to ethanol production. During that time, he also wrote about fantasy football and fantasy NASCAR for RotoViz. 

In 2016, he became a co-owner of RotoViz. Since then, Giffen has worked as a freelancer with FantasyLabs and the Action Network, before being hired as a full-time predictive analyst at Action in early 2022.

At Action, Giffen has developed in-game player prop models to live bet the NFL, which he uses on his show, Bet What Happens Live! He also pioneered Action's Luck Rankings, which have been used to bet NFL sides and totals successfully. 

Giffen frequently appears on several of Action's shows to talk NFL and college basketball, and he is a co-host of Running Hot, Action's motorsports betting podcast.

Education

Giffen graduated from James Madison University with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics. He earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from N.C. State.

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Nick Giffen's Picks

Today
68
10
Breece Hall Longest Rush under 14.5 yds (-125 at DK, MGM, 365) Going back to the Breece Hall longest rush under well when Justin Fields isn't QB. With Fields the starting QB Hall cleared this in 5 of 9 games, but he's only cleared this one time in games four games where Fields wasn't the starting QB. And it gets even starker when you look at the distributions. Just one of Hall's 55 rush attempts (1.8%) from at least 15 yards from the end zone have gone for 15+ yards when it's anyone other than Fields under center compared to 14 out of 132 rush attempts (10.6%) with Fields under center. Hall faces the Jaguars who have allowed just 5 runs of 15+ yards all season that didn't come from QB scrambles, tied for the lowest in the NFL with the Seahawks and Rams. I'm generously projecting him to stay under this 60.5% of the time, but reality is probably even lower than that.
119
18
Dawson Knox under 1.5 receptions (+120 at 365, +118 at FD) In two years with Dalton Kincaid as first-look TE, Knox has averaged just 1.45 receptions in games Kincaid played. And the matchup isn't ideal here either despite the fact that Knox had two grabs against the Patriots in their first meeting this year in which Kincaid also played. In that first meeting, the Patriots played just 5% Cover 2, but since Week 7 they have been the team that plays the second-most Cover 2 in the league at 28.4%. Bills QB Josh Allen's worst efficiency has been against Cover 2, so the Patriots would be wise to deploy it at a high rate as they have done in the second half of the year. That's also bad for Knox, as he's had just 3 targets against Cover 2 since the start of 2024, which encompasses 61 total routes. I'm projecting Knox right at 1.5 receptions, but that means he's favored to stay under as that's an average projection and not a median. Sometimes he'll have 3 or even 4 grabs, but that's more than offset by the number of times he catches 0 or 1 balls. At 55.8% to stay under, that's a 10% edge at +118 odds.
102
17
Jaylin Noel Over 7.5 rec yds (-110 at B365, -115 at MGM and Hard Rock) Over 1.5 receptions (+180 at 365, +175 at Hard Rock) Noel has averaged a 37.6% route share over the last five weeks with all the Texans WRs healthy. However, that's ticked up over the past two weeks to 43.2% and 45.7%, so he may be in line to keep a higher workload. Even without that the underlying factors are good here for Noel. First, the Cardinals generate a pressure rate over expected (PrROE) at the 4th lowest rate in the league, so Texans QB C.J. Stroud shouldn't face too much pressure. His completion rate skyrockts to just above 70% from just below 50% when pressured. Fortunately for Noel, in this five game stretch only he and Xavier Hutchinson see their targets per route more than double when Stroud has a clean pocket. However, unlike Hutchinson, Noel has a positive coverage matchup, racking up almost double the efficiency against Cover 4, which the Cardinals use at the highest rate in the NFL while Hutchinson mostly does his damage against man coverage which Arizona uses only 20% of the time (11th lowest). I also like over 1.5 receptions at +180 at Bet365 or +170 at Hard Rock, but those appear to be the only options as MGM is at just +130 and isn't really any value at that price, so if you don't have 365 or Hard Rock, just roll with the yardage which is also available at MGM. If you have yardage only, 1 unit is fine, otherwise split your unit between the two at 0.6 on the yards and 0.4 on the receptions.
83
15
Jaylin Noel Over 7.5 rec yds (-110 at B365, -115 at MGM and Hard Rock) Over 1.5 receptions (+180 at 365, +175 at Hard Rock) Noel has averaged a 37.6% route share over the last five weeks with all the Texans WRs healthy. However, that's ticked up over the past two weeks to 43.2% and 45.7%, so he may be in line to keep a higher workload. Even without that the underlying factors are good here for Noel. First, the Cardinals generate a pressure rate over expected (PrROE) at the 4th lowest rate in the league, so Texans QB C.J. Stroud shouldn't face too much pressure. His completion rate skyrockts to just above 70% from just below 50% when pressured. Fortunately for Noel, in this five game stretch only he and Xavier Hutchinson see their targets per route more than double when Stroud has a clean pocket. However, unlike Hutchinson, Noel has a positive coverage matchup, racking up almost double the efficiency against Cover 4, which the Cardinals use at the highest rate in the NFL while Hutchinson mostly does his damage against man coverage which Arizona uses only 20% of the time (11th lowest). I also like over 1.5 receptions at +180 at Bet365 or +170 at Hard Rock, but those appear to be the only options as MGM is at just +130 and isn't really any value at that price, so if you don't have 365 or Hard Rock, just roll with the yardage which is also available at MGM. If you have yardage only, 1 unit is fine, otherwise split your unit between the two at 0.6 on the yards and 0.4 on the receptions.
62
13
LV +11.5-110
LV
LV Team Abbreviation@PHI Team Abbreviation
PHI
0.55u
12/14 6:00 PM
Luck Rankings and Hurts sucks vs. zone
160
31
4-WAY PARLAY+187588
0.01u
Will just track the parlay and individual legs, but this is a full round robin, so x2s and x3s also https://www.actionnetwork.com/nfl/nfl-predictions-week-15-expert-data-driven-picks-for-sunday-dec-14
P.Mahomes Anytime TD Scorer Yes+450
LAC
LAC Team Abbreviation@KC Team Abbreviation
KC
12/14 6:00 PM
46
13
Tyler Shough under 22.5 rush yds (-115 at MGM) I'm showing way under this as this line is severely inflated from a 55 yard performance against Tampa Bay who allows a top-two QB adjusted scramble rate in the NFL. Shough goes from that to a bottom four matchup for scrambles, with the Panthers allowing both the fourth lowest raw QB scramble rate and the fourth lowest QB-adjusted scramble rate. A lot of that stems from the Panthers lack of pressure (31st in PrROE) and their high use of Cover 3 (2nd most), which keeps an extra man in the box in zone coverage facing the QB. When QBs do scramble against Carolina, it comes with the fourth-lowest yards per carry in the league. I'm projecting Shough for 18 with a median closer to 14.5 so there's value at every book out there.
97
20
Pending
Lowest Scoring Team (Regular Season): NY Jets+900
1u
3rd lowest Expected Score last year 4th largest O-line downgrade (-$30m AAV per 4for4) Jets opposing D's spent most $ of all 32 schedules Fields/Tyrod not upgrades/likely downgrades & will run more w/Fields eating clock 5th unluckiest set of opponents from last year (opponents regression to better results) Tankapalooza
51
11
Futures
Past Performance
Yesterday3-0-0100%
1.78u
Last 7 Days17-11-061%
7.53u
Last 30 Days45-67-140%
7.42u
All Time1249-2452-2134%
300.39u
Top Leagues
NFL503-759-1040%
121.75u
NCAAB423-344-855%
105.13u
NASCAR254-1195-218%
52.62u
NHL3-1-075%
3.57u
World Cup13-26-033%
1.18u
FORMULA_ONE0-1-00%
-0.50u
NASCAR_XFINITY0-1-00%
-0.50u
Women's World Cup1-4-020%
-0.95u
MLB2-4-033%
-1.71u
European Championship17-49-125%
-3.47u
Betting Highlights
Favorite Bet of All-Time
I bet on my favorite driver Kyle Kirkwood at 20-1 to win the Long Beach Grand Prix. I went to the race and watched him win it in person for his first career IndyCar win. It was the first time I watched him race an IndyCar in person, so I'm officially his good luck charm.
Specialties
  • NASCAR Expert
  • NFL Luck Rankings
  • NCAAB Player Props