AVOIDING TROUBLE
NFL stars Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers forced to cancel $10,000 bet – as rule loophole emerges for rookies
Nabers signed his rookie deal on Friday while Daniels has yet to put pen to paper
NFL rookies Malik Nabers and Jayden Daniels have had to cancel a big money bet ahead of their debut seasons.
Picked sixth overall by the New York Giants, Nabers recently revealed he and former LSU teammate, and second overall selection by the Washington Commanders, Daniels, had made a $10,000 bet prior to the NFL Draft.
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"We've got a bet going for Rookie of the Year," Nabers said on The Pivot podcast.
"Whoever loses has got to pay, I think it's $10,000."
However, the bet was swiftly called off after Nabers and Daniels learned about the NFL's strict gambling policies, as both revealed during their respective rookie minicamps on Friday.
"We were uneducated on the gambling policy in the NFL," Daniels said, as per the Washington Post's Nicki Jhabvala.
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"We learned about it last night, me and him had a conversation…and obviously we don't want to get in trouble."
The NFL's 2022 gambling policy specifies that league personnel cannot place "private wagers between teammates, family and friends, or others," according to ESPN.
This particular element of the policy was reportedly not specified within the league's revised policy last year.
Had the former Tigers opted not to call off their bet, there was reportedly a possibility they could have exploited a loophole in the NFL's rules to justify their decision.
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As eluded to by Nabers and Daniels, however, they were not made aware of these rules until very recently.
Also, it was recently reported that the league's gambling policy is not applicable to players until they've been drafted, according to Pro Football Talk.
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With that being the case, the article queried whether or not bets placed before the draft, such as that of Nabers and Daniels, should be permitted.
Whether or not it would have been permissible via this "potentially significant loophole," as PFT called it, is ultimately a moot point now that the bet has been called off.
Daniels has yet to put pen to paper on a deal with the Commanders, while Nabers signed his rookie deal on Friday.
The star wideout's fully guaranteed deal is reportedly worth $29.2 million, as per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
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"When I put my name on that paper, I was kind of shaking a little bit," Nabers said of signing his deal.
"I got emotional because the job is not done, but another stage in my life was done.
"So, for me to make it to this part of my life and this part of my journey it was a pat on my back in that moment."
What we know already
ONLY one matchup has been confirmed for the 2024 NFL regular season so far.
That is the Week 1 clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers on Friday, September 6.
The game is being played at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and will be streamed live on Peacock across the United States.
We also know the identity of the home teams for the three games in London, England, and one in Munich, Germany.
The Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings will host games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while the other London home team will be the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium.
The Carolina Panthers are also confirmed for the game at Munich's Allianz Arena.
Nabers now joins a Giants offense led by quarterback Daniel Jones, who signed a four-year deal worth $160 million in 2023.
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As for Daniels, he enters rookie minicamp as the presumptive starting quarterback for Washington.
Marcus Mariota, Jeff Driskel, and Jake Fromm will compete for the backup spot, along with rookie Sam Hartman who joined as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame.
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