Las Vegas usually knows what’s going on. On Aaron Rodgers, Las Vegas reportedly thinks it knows what he’ll be doing next week.
Via Bill Huber of SI.com, multiple sports books believe Rodgers will announce his retirement before Wednesday’s initial practice of training camp. Per Huber, Westgate Superbook has “closed all its NFC North markets, including projected wins, playoff odds, divisional odds and weekly lines for the four division teams.”
PointsBet sports book, which not long ago put the Green Bay over-under win total back on the board at nine, has once again removed Green Bay from the list of 32 teams. DraftKings also has removed the Green Bay over-under win total, along with its Packers-related “Team Specials.” (The other 31 teams have them.)
As one source with knowledge of the dynamics of the Rodgers situation said in response to these developments, “Vegas oddsmakers tend to be pretty sharp.” The source added that a lot of scenarios are in play, and “many, many factors” will be relevant to the outcome.
Rodgers has kept his card close to the vest. A retirement for 2021 would make sense, since it would help him avoid up to $2 million in fines for holding out of training camp. However, he’d still lose a $6.8 million roster bonus earned in March and payable each week of the 2021 regular season. He’d also be subject to repayment of $11.5 million in unearned signing bonus money for 2021. (Some believe the Packers would never try to collect, or successfully recover, the $11.5 million.)
He then could unretire in 2022, with the Packers trading him and Rodgers resuming his career.