Sports gambling is quickly becoming America’s pastime. You can seemingly bet on any game or player in what feels like an endless amount of ways. And now, you can actually bet on which team a football player who threw his uniform into the crowd and left the field mid-game will play for next.
The circus act in Tampa Bay came crashing down last Sunday for Antonio Brown when he stormed out of MetLife Stadium, quitting on his team in mid-game. Bruce Arians and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers promptly kicked Brown to the curb — and then the finger pointing began.
Now the Green Bay Packers are the favorites to land Brown, according to Bovada.
To the question of “where Brown will play his first game next season,” the Green Bay Packers are listed as favorites at +500. The Seattle Seahawks, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs fall in line afterwards.
On top of the absurdity of the ability to bet on such a thing, this makes absolutely zero sense.
Green Bay is going to be in a world of cap trouble after this year; they are scheduled to be in the hole by a whopping $37 million. Only the New Orleans Saints are projected to be in a worse spot than the Packers once the offseason free agency frenzy begins. Factor in that Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Davante Adams are all scheduled to be free agents and the odds of Green Bay going after or getting Brown seems even more laughable.
Their first priority will be resigning Adams while simultaneously figuring out what Aaron Rodgers’ plans are. After that and some cost-saving cap casualties, they will aim at taking care of their own wideouts like Lazard and MVS.
The Packers aren’t typically the kind of franchise takes on a headache like Brown. Even if his accusations against the Buccaneers and Arians are true, there’s plenty in his past that make the Packers just an awful fit.
In theory, sure, the Packers could look to get a proven veteran wide receiver. But when you factor in their cap situation, the free agents they will have at wideout already, and Brown’s troubled history, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
It’s a savvy move by Bovada to list the Packers up top and stir up some dialogue, but this is nothing more than flinging you-know-what at the wall and seeing if it sticks. Newsflash: It won’t.
