Teams Emerge as Betting Favorites for Rodgers, Carr

Where will quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Derek Carr play in 2023? Here's the latest news and odds.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Feb 21, 2023 8:35 PM EST
Original:
Feb 21, 2023

In this story:

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The New York Jets need a quarterback. So do the Las Vegas Raiders. With the Scouting Combine a week away, favorites have emerged for each job.

According to SportsBetting.ag and BetOnline, Derek Carr is the favorite to be the Jets’ quarterback for the 2023 season and Aaron Rodgers is the favorite to replace Carr with the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Raiders are -200 to be Rodgers’ next team (with the bet void if Rodgers retires or returns to Green Bay). That would mean a reunion with one of his favorite receivers, Davante Adams. The Jets are +140.

All the other potential suitors are major underdogs, with the Tennessee Titans at +1000, San Francisco 49ers at +1600, New England Patriots at +2000, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers at +2500, Washington Commanders at +3300, and Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints and Houston Texans at +5000.

The Jets are -200 to be Carr’s next team. The Carolina Panthers are +250 and the New Orleans Saints are +300. There’s a big gap before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at +900. And then there’s everybody else: Atlanta Falcons at +1800, Packers at +2000, Indianapolis Colts and Washington Commanders at +3300, Tennessee Titans at +4000 and Houston Texans at +5000.

By implied probability, Rodgers-Raiders and Carr-Jets is 66.7 percent.

As Packer Central reported on Monday, Carr isn’t just Plan B for the Jets should Rodgers not be available. Rather, the 31-year-old is viewed as a legit possibility because he’s eight years younger than Rodgers and wouldn’t cost the Jets a valuable draft pick – perhaps a first-rounder, if not more.

“They had a good chat. They talked about a lot of different things,” Carr’s brother, former NFL quarterback and current NFL Network analyst David Carr, said on NFL Total Access. “Obviously, the team is just in need of a quarterback. There’s some stability there. They’ve got good components. There are a lot of things that are very positive about the Jets. He had a great trip.”

The Jets, allegedly, think incredibly highly of Carr.

“[The Jets] made it super-personal,” Dianna Russini said on ESPN's NFL Live on Tuesday. “They said ‘We believe if you come to New York and win, you could be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”

Both quarterbacks have organizational ties to the Jets, with new offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett being Rodgers’ coordinator during his MVP seasons of 2020 and 2021. New Jets passing-game coordinator Todd Downing was with the Raiders for Carr’s Pro Bowl seasons of 2015, 2016 and 2017.

“I think the most important thing for him as a veteran quarterback is what is it going to be like as an offensive play-caller and a quarterback and that relationship,” David Carr said. Carr would have that with Downing; Rodgers would have that with Hackett.

Perhaps working in the Packers’ favor is David Carr said Derek Carr’s decision would be a “long process.”

That could eliminate the possibility of, say, the Jets making a quick decision on Carr and leaving the Raiders as perhaps the lone suitor that’s agreeable to both the Packers and Rodgers.

The odds at DraftKings have been steady for the last few days. The Raiders are the betting favorite to get Rodgers at -200, followed by the Jets at +150, the Packers at +250 and nobody else with shorter odds than the Colts’ +1500.

Those odds, unlike those at BetOnline, incorporate the Packers as part of the bet. However, the odds have been hedged because of the Jets’ interest in Carr.