An undrafted rookie QB just gave us the most memorable finish in Pro Football Hall of Fame Game history.
Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come in terms of results both on the field and in our FanDuel bet slips.
Haynes King registered 2951 passing yards, 953 rushing yards, and scored 29 total touchdowns to earn ACC Player of the Year honours at Georgia Tech last season.
32 NFL teams passed on him in the 2026 NFL Draft.
On Thursday night in Canton, the undrafted free agent quarterback stole the spotlight with a walk-off touchdown in Carolina’s 33-30 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
King went 21-of-34 for 180 yards, two touchdowns, and scrambled for another 39 yards and the winning score as time expired in the fourth quarter.
It’s the type of performance that I hope I can tell my grandkids about one day.
An undrafted 25-year-old turned an NFL exhibition into pure cinema and cashed my first bet of the season as this year’s Hall of Fame inductees watched on.
It’s the first time that both teams have scored 30 or more points in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
It’s also the first walk off win in an NFL exhibition game since 2019.
We’ll always remember it as the Haynes King game.
However, nobody is sleeping on the other rookie QB who also looked like he belonged in the NFL last night.
Arizona’s third round pick Carson Beck went 15-of-19 for 188 yards and a touchdown, including a solid 6-of-7 on throws that travelled more than 10 yards downfield.
While they ultimately fell just short in Mike LaFleur’s debut as head coach, Cardinals fans must be thrilled with what they saw from their rookie quarterback, who led three scoring drives before sitting down the stretch.
Sure, Beck faced a vanilla backup Panthers defence, but the rookie looked confident, decisive, and made several quality throws downfield that showcased his upside.
For a third-round pick walking into a significant rebuild, that’s the type of performance that forges optimism.
Since moving to Arizona in 1988, the Cardinals have had 40 different starting quarterbacks, which is tied for the third-most in the NFL in that span behind only the Cleveland Browns and the Chicago Bears.
No NFL team has longer odds to make the playoffs at FanDuel than Arizona.
LaFleur was tabbed to lead another Cardinals rebuild, and his most important task is figuring out how to stop the rotating door at quarterback.
Beck is +1900 as the seventh choice to win AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honours at FanDuel.
Arizona plays in the NFL’s toughest division and has the most difficult strength of schedule in the league, but it’s only a matter of time before Beck gets thrown into the fire so that LaFleur and company can evaluate him.
Based on Thursday night’s performance, that moment could arrive sooner rather than later.
https://x.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/2085540026314551565
Meanwhile, with the regular season around the corner and fantasy football drafts getting fired up, there’s been plenty of chatter in recent weeks about the potential of another Cardinals rookie who didn’t even play in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
What are the odds that Jeremiyah Love wins AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year?
Let’s take a closer look at the NFL OROY market in this Morning Coffee column for Friday August 7th, 2026.
Revisiting FanDuel’s OROY Odds After Rookie QBs Shine In Pro Football Hall Of Fame Game
10 NFL teams will have a new head coach this season.
None of them has a tougher task than LaFleur in Arizona.
After missing the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 seasons, the Cardinals hit the reset button once again when they hired LaFleur and moved on from 2019 first overall pick Kyler Murray at quarterback.
LaFleur has already gone to work rebuilding Arizona’s offensive line, adding Beck and veteran Gardner Minshew to his quarterback room, and assembling one of the most impressive running backs groups in the entire NFL.
The Cardinals selected Jeremiyah Love with the third overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and signed veteran free agent Tyler Allgeier to join James Conner, Trey Benson, and Bam Knight.
Arizona might not win many games this season, but it’s clear that LaFleur wants to build a functional offence that gives his quarterbacks the best chance to succeed.
Love is the favourite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year at +420 odds at FanDuel.
Beck is a +1900 longshot as the seventh choice.
Meanwhile, first overall pick QB Fernando Mendoza remains the second choice to win OROY at +470.
Then there’s Seattle Seahawks running back Jadarian Price at +650 as the third choice to win Offensive Rookie of the Year at FanDuel.
While Love and Mendoza are viewed as the “obvious” early favourites, Price has emerged as one of the most popular bets to win OROY at FanDuel over the summer.
Per the FanDuel traders, Price has garnered nearly the same number of OROY bets as Love and Mendoza.
The Seahawks chose not to sign Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III as a free agent this offseason, and Zach Charbonnet remains on the PUP as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in last year’s playoffs.
That combination set the stage for Seattle to select Price with the 32nd overall pick.
The Seahawks offence caught fire last season behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Offensive Player of the Year campaign, the addition of Rashid Shaheed as a vertical threat, and Walker’s eventual Super Bowl MVP performance.
JSN and Shaheed are both back.
With Walker gone and Charbonnet still working his way bac, Seattle needs Price to have an instant impact.
The NFC West now features three of the top seven choices to win AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Love is considered the obvious favourite for Arizona.
However, Price is being asked to carry a backfield that just lost its Super Bowl MVP and currently has its other back on the PUP.
Talent combined with opportunity is the perfect formula for his award and FanDuel bettors aren’t willing to sleep on Price in an ideal situation in Seattle.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals aren’t ready to compete for a playoff spot in the NFL’s toughest division.
However, if Love wins Offensive Rookie of the Year and Beck proves he can be a legitimate starting quarterback, Year 1 of the LaFleur era in Arizona would be considered a massive success.
Every preseason snap represents another step towards the NFL regular season kick-off.
Thankfully, we were able to begin the exhibition slate with another best bet winner.
Let’s try to build on that foundation next week.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
