Last summer, the Cleveland Browns had their turn to be featured on HBO's "Hard Knocks" -- and they didn't disappoint.
But while the emergence of Baker Mayfield and addition of Odell Beckham Jr. only make the Browns even more attractive as a docu-series subject, it appears the bright lights of HBO will spend their summer elsewhere.
On Friday, online sportsbook SportsBetting.ag released its odds for which NFL team will be featured this year in HBO's annual summer show, which documents a franchise's training camp in the weeks leading up to the start of the season. At +125 odds, the Washington Redskins are the betting favorite, with the Oakland Raiders (+250), New York Giants (+300), Detroit Lions (+350) and San Francisco 49ers (+900) also listed.
For the betting unitiated, a successful $100 wager on Washington would return $125, while a winning $100 bet on the Radiers would profit $250 and so on.
Despite the undeniable buzz around the Browns, their exclusion from the betting odds actually makes sense. Between hiring a first-year head coach in Freddie Kitchens earlier this offseason and having appeared on Hard Knocks within the past 10 years, Cleveland meets multiple exemptions for being featured in the series, a right that is also extended to teams that have made the playoffs in at least one of the previous two seasons.
A result, it appears that this year's "Hard Knocks" could very well be featuring another rookie quarterback, with the Redskins having drafted Ohio State signal-caller Dwayne Haskins with the No. 15 pick in last year's draft.
For Mayfield, the exposure paid off. Unfortunately, we won't be getting more of it this summer.
