From no chance to, so you’re telling me there’s a chance?
New coach Jim Harbaugh has been extremely complimentary of his ex-pupil, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy, so much so that the odds on the Chargers to draft a quarterback has moved dramatically, from 100/1 all the way down to +600.
In implied probability terms, this is a massive shift, from .99 percent chance all the way to 14.29 percent.
But what’s fueling this odds movement?
It certainly isn’t ESPN reporter Adam Schefter, who criticized the odds movement as more gimmick than reality.
“You’d be absorbing the largest cap charge in NFL history to trade one of the elite young quarterback talents,” Schefter said on “Get Up” Wednesday morning. “It doesn’t make sense for as much as you would get back. And I don’t understand how those odds have gone up like that. Is this some sort of gimmick?”
Co-host Mike Greenberg argued that the Chargers could select McCarthy and trade current starter Justin Herbert, using the odds movement as evidence.
The odds movement started at 100/1, moved to 15/1 as of Tuesday, and is now down to +600 on ESPN BET, the newly released sportsbook bearing the Worldwide Leaders name.
Greenberg was also keen to mention multiple sterling reviews by Harbaugh, who called McCarthy’s Pro Day “the best throwing day I’ve ever seen” while also mentioning that he should be the No. 1 pick in the draft.
A move of this magnitude would obviously send shockwaves throughout the NFL and is far from likely, based on Schefter’s comments.
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It actually first popped up when ex-NFL wide receiver and now full-time internet troll Antonio Brown posted on X – with an account he runs called CTESPNNetwork – that Herbert was close to being traded to the Vikings.
Many reporters, including Benjamin Allbright, threw cold water on it.
Thus far in the draft process, we’re tucking this one away as a very strange, unexplainable odds movement… for now.
PENN National – the company that operates ESPN BET– tells The Post that the No. 5 overall pick has received the second most betting action in the NFL draft this year.
McCarthy to be selected No. 5 overall (any team) is favored at +225 and has received 28 percent of bets and 29 percent of the money out of all 24 players offered on the market
