Megan Turner
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Las Vegas sportsbooks are preparing for Aaron Rodgers to retire and not return to the Green Bay Packers, but does that really mean the veteran quarterback will not play this season?
SI.com’s Bill Huber first reported that multiple sportsbooks believe Rodgers will announce his retirement before Wednesday’s initial practice of training camp. Westgate Superbook has closed all its NFC North markets, including projected wins, playoff odds, divisional odds and weekly lines for the four division teams.
DraftKings and PointsBet pulled NFC North odds, Packers win totals and more. BetMGM later pulled Packers odds off the market.
Sportsbooks such as FanDuel and William Hill still have odds up on the Packers, ActionNetwork.com reports. That includes futures odds in the division and Week 1 against the Saints — the Saints are 3-point favorites at some books, 2.5-point favorites at others.
FanDuel was still hanging win totals, with Green Bay sitting at 9.5 (under -150), ActionNetwork.com reports. Instead of pulling odds completely, Circa Sports adjusted NFC North odds making the Vikings the +125 favorite followed by the Packers at +195.
Denver7 Broncos Insider Troy Renek tweeted that the book closing will lead to speculation that he’s retiring, a move last used by Carson Palmer to force a trade to Raiders in Oct. 2011.
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, per SI.com. One of those sportsbooks pushed out its prices on the Packers to win the NFC North and shortened the odds for the other teams and it also shortened the odds of Patrick Mahomes winning NFL MVP, Huber reported.
Bovada has over/under touchdown and passing yardage totals for the projected starting quarterbacks but no line for Rodgers, per Huber. 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 with the Vikings as the favorite, with the Packers second, Bears third and Lions fourth.
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Follow Meg Turner on Twitter @Megnturner_ and Instagram @Megnturner.
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I’m sticking with Rodgers won’t retire. He’s too damn selfish to give up a year of stats that could put him higher on the all time leader board.
It’s literally all he has. Only one ring to his name for his “greatness” and a slew of choke jobs in the playoffs. Remember last year his chest puffing “oh it’s different for teams now they have to come to Green Bay” when the playoffs started? Ya, just like the Giants went in and smacked them ten years ago, Buccs did the same, and he was garbage in both. Diva
Exactly. Rodgers is a very good QB but it’s enough already how we’re force fed how great he is. He’s been in the league 15 years and has played in 1 Super Bowl . And the NFC has been wide open his entire career, it’s not like he’s played his career in the AFC where he’d have to go through Brady, Peyton, Big Ben, Mahomes to get to a super bowl.
Go ahead and retire. You lost the last 4 consecutive NFC Championship games you have appeared. No other QB has lost 4 consecutive conference championship games. Rodger can retire with at least one NFL record.
As they say back on the farm, “Don’t let the door hit ya in the ass”!
Please retire and go protest pipelines with your skank girlfriend. What a douche.