Well, that didn’t last long.
The friendly wager between former LSU teammates Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers is now off.
The two players placed a friendly $10,000 bet with each other on who would win the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award this season. But on Friday, after Nabers attended rookie minicamp with the New York Giants and learned the specifics of the NFL’s gambling policy, he revealed that the bet was off. It’s unclear if the bet would have violated that policy, but the two aren’t taking any chances.
“I’m educated now that I got here about sports betting and gambling,” Nabers said Friday, via ESPN. “So we’re calling the bet off. There is no bet now. It was just another brother pushing another brother to try to get to success. That is all it was.”
The NFL’s gambling policy prohibits all players and league personnel from “placing, soliciting or facilitating any bet, whether directly or through a third party,” on any NFL game or league activity. That includes specific game wagers, player props and more. Under the 2022 policy, “private wagers between teammates, family and friends, or others,” were also banned — however this was not included in last year’s policy.
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So, since the wager was at best in a gray area for the former Tigers stars, they’ve called it off.
Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy last season at LSU, was selected by the Washington Commanders with the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft last month. He threw for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns last season while completing more than 72% of his passes.
Nabers, who went No. 6 overall in the draft to the Giants, racked up 1,569 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns last season at LSU. He accounted for about 41% of Daniels’ passing yards, and averaged nearly 18 yards per reception. He signed his four-year, $29.2 million rookie contract on Friday.
“When I put my name on that paper, I was kind of shaking a little bit,” Nabers said, via ESPN. “And I got emotional because the job is not done, but another stage in my life was done. For me to make it to this part of my life, part of my journey, it was a pat on my back in that moment.”
The two are undoubtedly top candidates to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award this fall, though they are far behind Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams — who is the overwhelming favorite on BetMGM.
Only time will tell if either Nabers or Daniels can overtake Williams to win the award. Now, though, they’ll have to pull that off without any extra motivation.
