Kansas City’s first-round pick is more than a dark horse to win the honor.
On Thursday, news broke that quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Malik Nabers — who were LSU teammates before being taken with the second and sixth picks of the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit — have made a $10,000 bet on which one them will be named the league’s offensive rookie of the year.
According to ESPN, there’s a question about whether the bet will be permitted. It might violate the league’s policy prohibiting players from making NFL wagers.
[T]here’s a good chance the bet doesn’t happen. One source said the education for rookies on the gambling policy will take place during their rookie minicamp, which begins Thursday with orientation sessions. The bet could end up being cancelled afterward.
ESPN has contacted the NFL league office to determine if this would violate its policy on gambling but did not immediately hear back. The league’s policy states that NFL personnel are prohibited from “placing, soliciting or facilitating any bet, whether directly or through a third party,” on any NFL game, practice or other league event, such as the draft or combine.” It includes betting on the outcome of a game, statistics, the score or individual performance and other prop bets.
The 2022 gambling policy stated that gambling includes “private wagers between teammates, family and friends, or others” but that was not included in the revised 2023 policy.
On Friday afternoon, the Nabers announced the bet had been called off. But another question remains about the original wager: what if neither of them wins the award?
We ask this question because Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes will target rookie Xavier Worthy in 2024. The former Texas player will be one of the league’s fastest wideouts. In three of the four seasons in which Mahomes has had a super-speedy wide receiver available to him, that player has accumulated at least 1,200 receiving yards — and if Tyreek Hill hadn’t missed four 2019 games with an injury, it could easily have been four of four.
A 1,200-yard season could easily be enough for a rookie wideout to win. In the past 20 seasons, four rookie wide receivers have been named offensive rookie of the year: the New York Jets’ Garrett Wilson, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase, the New York Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. and the Minnesota Vikings’ Percy Harvin. As rookies, they ranged between 790 and 1,455 receiving yards — and averaged 1,163.
During that same period, 10 quarterbacks — from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger to the Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud — have won the award. That’s probably why DraftKings Sportsbook lists quarterback Daniels at +650 to win OROY, while wideout Nabers is listed at +1,400. (The No. 1 overall pick — the Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams — comes in at +175).
But Worthy still wouldn’t be likely to win OROY , would he? After all... over the same 20 years, only three OROY winners were selected outside the first round. Of the remaining 17, only Harvin, Beckham and Roethslisberger were taken outside the top 10. That’s probably why DraftKings lists the San Francisco 49ers’ new wideout Ricky Pearsall — the 2024 draft’s 31st pick — at +4,000.
Still... DraftKings lists Worthy’s OROY line at +1,600. Even though he was taken three spots earlier than Pearsall and 22 spots later than Nabers, they give him the fifth-best chance to win the honor.
Such is the power of Mahomes.
So even though Daniels and Nabers think the race is mostly between them, it isn’t — and one of the players vying to beat them will be wearing red and gold.
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2024/5/10/24153558/chiefs-news-jayden-daniels-malik-nabers-bet-oroy-xavier-worthy-could-spoil?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
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