The New England Patriots are so confident nothing will happen to Tom Brady this season that they traded their backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers. That’s the second QB they’ve traded this season, after previously moving Jacoby Brissett to the Indianapolis Colts.
As long as Brady’s still around, the oddsmakers will remain confident in the Patriots. New England continues to reign as the favorite on the Super Bowl futures odds, currently listed at +350. The Patriots are on their bye this week and return in Week 10 with back-to-back road games against the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders.
While the Pats remain on top of the futures, the Philadelphia Eagles continue to gain on them, up to +600 this week. The Eagles have won six straight and remain the lone team in the NFL with one loss. Carson Wentz has developed into an MVP threat this season and is tied for the league lead in touchdown passes. It will be interesting to see if the Eagles’ acquisition of running back Jay Ajayi has any effect on the Super Bowl odds.
Pennsylvania is represented in the third spot on the Super Bowl futures as well, with the Pittsburgh Steelers slotted in at +700. After a bumpy start to the season, the Steelers appear to be finding their footing with three straight wins. Offensively they continue to roll behind the big three of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown, but the emergence of JuJu Smith-Schuster gives them another weapon. Don’t downplay the Steelers defense, which ranks third in the NFL.
Rounding out the top five on the Super Bowl futures are the Kansas City Chiefs at +750 and Seattle Seahawks at +1000.
The Chiefs rebounded from back-to-back losses last week with a solid win over the Denver Broncos to stop their slide on the Super Bowl futures. The Chiefs get an interesting road game against the Dallas Cowboys this week before heading into their bye week. Kansas City is the only team to beat the Eagles this season, and also has a win over New England so nobody will be looking to face them come playoff time.
Seattle reeled off its fourth straight win last week by toppling the Houston Texans in an offensive shootout. It was good to see the Seattle offense step up after delivering so many mediocre performances so far this season. If the Seahawks want to prove they’re legitimate Super Bowl contenders, they’ll get the chance a number of times the rest of the way with games against Philadelphia, the Rams and Dallas.
The team for bettors to watch this week could be the Buffalo Bills. The Bills keep on winning but their standing on the Super Bowl futures is slow to change. Currently they have +4000 odds which seems low for a team that has won four of its last five games and is battling for top spot in its division. If you think Buffalo is for real and may finally get back to the postseason for the first time since 1999, a futures bet could be good value right now.