Just like games aren’t played in the Vegas sportsbooks, teams aren’t drafted through it either. Because Vegas is set to lose a lot of people money as Abdul Carter becomes the betting favorite to be the No. 2 pick to the Cleveland Browns, according to DraftKings. Specifically, DraftKings has Carter as the favorite with -125 odds.
This isn’t an outlandish idea. Once upon a time, I thought Abdul Carter was the best option for the Browns too. That was before they locked down Myles Garrett for another four years and before they made the grand gesture of acquiring Super Bowl champion Kenny Pickett.
Now picking an edge rusher with the second overall pick feels more like a reach than a done deal. Unless Vegas has an insider within the Browns organization that feels they can find their new quarterback either later in the draft or wait until next year.
At this point, the quarterback room is abysmal. The team seems to like Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, so whichever one is available, I’d be shocked if they passed on either. It wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen though.
Carter is a great player and does make a compelling case to play in Cleveland. But unless they have some plans in place to get Kirk Cousins or convince Russell Wilson to move to Cleveland, I’d say Vegas might be leading you astray here.
Abdul Carter is the betting favorite to be the No. 2 overall pick, which means Cleveland could have other plans to revamp quarterback room
The Browns still have moves they can make when it comes to addressing their quarterback deficiencies. Cousins is an option, Wilson is an option, or tanking for a 2026 quarterback is an option too, I suppose.
I think Cleveland getting Carter with the No. 2 pick isn’t a bad idea. In my pre-free agency mock draft, I said the Browns should draft him. I think going the route the Philadelphia Eagles took of fortifying the defensive line could work in their favor.
Especially because they could be interested in going quarterback with the second-round pick (pick No. 33), which is essentially a first round pick. They could look at Jaxson Dart, Quinn Ewers or even Tyler Shough, as they invited him for a top 30 visit.
These are all good options and good ones to have at that. Vegas could be onto something with Carter favored to land in Cleveland. I backed off the Carter train after the Browns re-signed Garrett and traded for Pickett – which I still can’t understand.
Doing those moves in near succession made it clear they were looking at taking a quarterback in the draft. Now Andrew Berry might have some tricks up his sleeve to truly turn the Browns around in one offseason and it looks like Vegas might think it isn’t a quarterback.
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