Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers, former LSU teammates, made a friendly wager ahead of the 2024 NFL draft: The good friends made a $10,000 bet on who would win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
That bet is no more.
“I’m educated now that I got here about sports betting and gambling,” Nabers said on the first day of Giants rookie minicamp via Jordan Raanan of 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 friendly wager became known when Nabers, as a guest on “The Pivot” podcast, announced he and Daniels made the bet. Daniels later confirmed it was true.
However, before both players reported to rookie minicamp, the NFL was expected to educate the rookies on the league’s gambling policy.
Daniels acknowledged the bet was off when he spoke to reporters after the first day of Washington Commanders rookie minicamp.
“Yeah, we were uneducated on the gambling policy in the NFL,” Daniels said. “We learned about it last night. Me and him had a conversation and canceled the bet. Obviously, we don’t want to get in trouble with anything, so we’re just focused on being the best players for our respective teams.”
The NFL seemed to take this a bit too seriously, especially considering its partnerships with companies like DraftKings and FanDuel. Daniels and Nabers weren’t placing bets on teams or with sportsbooks. This was, as Nabers described, two friends pushing one another and having some fun with it.
Still, it’s probably a good thing to learn now and put it behind them.
Nabers probably wishes he’d never mentioned it.
