Sports betting probably won’t see the New York Jets drop in football odds but the team did make news by signing running back LaDainian Tomlinson. The Jets signed the former San Diego star running back to a two-year deal. Whether Tomlinson has anything left and whether he can impact sportsbetting results is the question to answer.
Sports betting statistics had the Jets as the top rushing offense in the NFL last season. They lost Thomas Jones though but whether or not Tomlinson can replace Jones is in serious question. The Jets sure think so since they are paying Tomlinson over $5 million. He will have to compete for playing time with Shonn Greene and based on Tomlinson’s numbers from last season, Greene might be the better choice. Tomlinson was the league MVP but that was back in 2006. He has done very little lately and didn’t even rush for over 1,000 yards last season with San Diego. Tomlinson will be 31 years old in June and that is past the age when most running backs can be productive.
Tomlinson chose the Jets over the Vikings even though there were reports that Brett Favre was pushing for him to choose Minnesota. Tomlinson is eighth on the NFL’s career rushing list with 12,490 yards. It seems very unlikely though that Tomlinson can replace Jones who had 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. The Jets are saying all the right things though. Players seem excited. “LaDainian running behind our line…” Left tackle Damien Woody said, “I think he’ll put up better numbers than people think.”
Last year the numbers for Tomlinson were not good. He rushed for only 730 yards and averaged just 3.3 yards per carry. He did have 12 TDs but almost all of those were goal line carries. The Jets could be looking at Tomlinson as a receiver out of the backfield but they paid a high price to get him.
New York is still not considered a serious threat to win the Super Bowl in sports betting even though they are coming off a very good season. The Jets nearly made the Super Bowl a year ago. The Jets are not the favorites to win Super Bowl XLV. The Indianapolis Colts are the favorites in sportsbetting to win the title even though they were beaten by the New Orleans Saints last year.