Las Vegas Sportsbooks Bracing for Rodgers’s Retirement
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Las Vegas sportsbooks are preparing for Aaron Rodgers to retire and not return to the Green Bay Packers.
Because of the importance of the reigning NFL MVP, Westgate SuperBook recently closed all its NFC North markets, including projected wins, playoff odds, divisional odds and weekly lines for the four division teams, one oddsmaker at the sportsbook said via a Twitter direct message.
Two other sportsbooks contacted after that initial message said the expectation is Rodgers is going to announce his retirement sometime before the first practice on Wednesday. In response, one of those sportsbooks pushed out its prices on the Packers to win the NFC North and shortened the odds for the other teams. It also shortened the odds of Patrick Mahomes winning NFL MVP.
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The Packers, in some form or fashion, are open for business at most sportsbooks. At FanDuel, Green Bay’s over/under win total is 9.5 and is a considerable favorite to win the NFC North. Considering the Packers won 13 games during a 16-game season in 2019 and 2020, the 9.5 for a 17-game season reflects the uncertainty, if not the expectation that Rodgers will not return for the 2021 NFL season.
The Packers are the favorite to win the NFC North at DraftKings, too, but their win total is not on the board. At PointsBet, the Packers are +1600 to win the Super Bowl, tied for the seventh-shortest odds, and Rodgers (+1000) is behind only Mahomes (+450) for MVP. However, neither their season win total nor the make/miss playoff bet is available.
Bovada has over/under touchdown and passing yardage totals for the projected starting quarterbacks but no line for Rodgers. At another offshore sportsbook, Bet Online, Rodgers is a distant eighth on the MVP board and the Packers are not available on the yes/no playoff bet.
Circa Sports posted updated NFC North odds on Friday night. The Vikings are the favorite, with the Packers second, Bears third and Lions fourth.
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