Las Vegas hits the mark with odds for the Cleveland Browns
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns may not have received much love from Las Vegas oddsmakers for the upcoming season, but that doesn’t mean they are not right.
The Cleveland Browns have done extensive work in the past two off seasons to rebuild a roster left bare by the poor management of previous regimes.
Two solid draft classes – with the promise of more to come in 2018 – and a productive free agency period this spring, coupled with the continued improvement of a young roster under the guidance of a talented coaching staff and, while certainly not there yet, the Browns are further along than many want to admit.
The question now is when will all that work start paying off in wins?
Well, if the oddsmakers in Las Vegas are correct, and they didn’t help fund all those glittering mega hotels and casinos by being wrong very often, the winning may have to wait until at least 2018.
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Cantor Technology recently released the early point spreads for the first 15 games of the upcoming season, they held off on the season finale in case it has playoff implications, and the Browns are not favored in a single game, according to ESPN.com.
It would be foolish to believe the Browns are going to go from being 1-15 to an eight- nine- or 10-win team after just a single off season, but to not be favored at all is a bit of a stretch.
The Browns are certainly no worse than the New York Jets, a pick ’em game in Week 5, the Jacksonville Jaguars, a three-point favorite in Week 11, and the Chicago Bears, a four-and-half-point favorite in a Week 15 game that should see rookie Mitchell Trubisky starting at quarterback for the Bears.
Where’s the love?
The situation is a little less dire, and far more reasonable, when looking at the over/under on season win totals for the various teams from the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, which places the Browns at 4.5 wins for the season, according to ESPN.com.
That number seems pretty spot on as it is just easy enough for Browns fans to talk themselves into taking the over. Win the home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, beat the Jets and Bears, pull off an upset and suddenly the Browns are only one win away from reaching five wins and paying off on the over bet.
Next: Browns early record predictions for 2017
Of course, when was the last time anything was ever easy when it came to the Browns?