Cleveland Browns Attract Best Vegas Odds To Win AFC North

TheSportster

By Jesse Singer

Published Aug 24, 2018

The Cleveland Browns are starting to gain some traction, at least in the world of sports betting as the team is favored to win the AFC North.

For the past two seasons, the sportsbooks in Las Vegas have had to inflate the point spreads of Cleveland Browns games in order to get bettors to lay down money on the the struggling team. But not this year. In fact, the Browns have been getting lots of bettor love this year going into the 2019-20 season.

In fact, a sportsbook manager at Caesars Palace says "there are more bets on the Browns to win AFC North than the other three teams combined. Only the Raiders and Steelers have more bets to win the AFC (than the Browns). The public likes the Browns, and I'm not sure why."

According to ESPN, the reason why could be thanks to some of the smart moves the organization made this offseason. After going 1-31 over the last two seasons (0-16 last year), the Browns picked up wide receiver Jarvis Landry from the Miami Dolphins (Landry lead the league in receptions last season) and running back Carlos Hyde from San Francisco.

They also signed quarterback Tyrod Taylor — who has looked good so far this preseason and the drafted quarterback Baker Mayfield with the number one pick in the draft. The Browns don't have a very good record with drafting QBs, but Mayfield could be the real deal. On top of that, Browns' coach, Hue Jackson, has been adamant that Taylor will be the started day one, meaning Mayfield won't be rushed into action right away and will have an opportunity to learn and develop the obvious talent he has.

The betting numbers for their season win totals are in the 5.5-6 range (depending on the sportsbook) and at Caesars Palace, 66 percent of the betting is going to the over! Caesers' books also have the Browns at 7-1 to win the AFC North and 20-1 to be AFC Champions. Also, sitting at 60-1 to win the Super Bowl Cleveland has received more bets to be champions of the league than the Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Kansas City Chiefs.

Sure it sounds a little crazy. But then again, the people who put money down on the Las Vegas Golden Knights last year to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals probably looked crazy until the Knights made it and the bettors cashed in on those 250-1 odds.