Las Vegas Raiders former starting quarterback Derek Carr has been benched. He’s even stepped away from the team, saying he doesn’t want to be a “distraction.”
Expecting the longtime Raiders QB to be traded, fans are speculating on where he will end up.
Coincidentally, the Indianapolis Colts are in the market for a new quarterback. The Colts are the favorites to land Carr, but you can’t bet on the action even though Indiana sports betting is legal.
Colts could be looking to trade for Carr
Sports betting is big business in Indiana. Gamblers in The Hoosier State have wagered more than $10 billion in the last five years. They have not, however, bet on player trades. That is still not allowed in Indiana.
There is no doubt the Raiders will have suitors for Carr. He has amassed over 35,000 passing yards in his career, with 217 touchdowns against 99 interceptions.
Even in recent seasons, his production has been solid. Carr has thrown for over 4,000 yards in four of the last five seasons, including 4,804 yards in 2021, fifth-best in the league that year.
Several teams in the NFL would welcome that level of production from the quarterback position. A few of the big suitors are the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans. Both struggled at the quarterback position this season.
Unfortunately, so did the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts have been searching for an offensive leader since Andrew Luck abruptly retired before the 2019 season.
The Colts have the best odds of picking up Carr, according to DraftKings. Regrettably, the team’s quarterback situation isn’t a part of Indianapolis Colts betting in the Hoosier State.
DraftKings says Colts have best odds of getting Carr
The odds favor Carr sporting a new uniform next season. Most oddsmakers see Carr’s benching as a sign that the Raiders are ready to move on from the quarterback who owns almost every franchise passing record.
Even if a trade partner is not found, the Raiders can waive Carr within three days of the Super Bowl and only incur a $5.625 million salary cap hit. There’s still a chance that the Raiders could be considering keeping him around, but the fact that he stepped away from the team seems to signal a trade is imminent.
DraftKings Sportsbook currently has the odds of the Colts picking up Carr at +330. Indianapolis has tried to resurrect careers of former all-pro quarterbacks in the past, including Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz and Matt Ryan, with different degrees of success. They might want to throw the dice again on Carr.
The next best odds to pick up Carr are the New York Jets, who have suffered disaster after disaster at the quarterback position over the last several years. DraftKings has the Jets at +400 to pick up Carr. The Tennessee Titans follow at +550.
After those three, no team has odds better than +900 to land Carr. The odds for the Raiders keeping Carr are a longshot at +3,000.
No player trade betting in Indiana
PlayIndiana previously reached out to FanDuel about the inability of Indiana bettors to wager on player trades back when the Colts were hoping to land Carson Wentz.
At the time, a company spokesperson said, “It is not approved per the regulations in Indiana.” PointsBet had the same response.
“Unfortunately, at this time, we are not permitted to list these wagers in Indiana.”
While their statements are true, they leave out a key piece of information. The reason Hoosiers cannot bet on player trades is because none of the approved online sportsbooks in the state of Indiana have put in a request to make them legal.
It’s not a question of Indiana regulators blocking the betting. It’s more about sportsbooks going out of their way to add player trades to the list of approved betting options.
In fact, if a licensed sportsbook put in a request with the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGG), it would likely be approved. The commission previously told PlayIndiana that it has already drawn up regulations to cover wagering on player trades. The thing is, no one has requested it yet.
Bettors in Indiana who are determined to make this type of a wager, like betting on where Carr will end up, would have to travel to a state like Colorado to do so; simply because no sportsbook serving Indiana has filed an official request.
That’s an unfortunately reality for Hoosiers that like to bet on the NFL and other leagues. There’s often heavy speculation on where new coaches and players will end up in professional sports, and betting on those markets would likely be a welcome sight for many of the bettors in Indiana.
