Winners Club: Chiefs Are Early Favorites to Repeat as Super Bowl Champion

Plus, World Series futures odds, NFL coaching news and more.

Kyle Wood | Feb 15, 2023

Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and the Chiefs cemented their legacy Sunday with a second Super Bowl win, this time over the Eagles. Kansas City is already an early favorite to hoist the Lombardi Trophy again next year when the Big Game is played in Las Vegas.

When the confetti began to fall on the field at State Farm Stadium after the Chiefs completed their comeback, it meant the NFL offseason was officially upon us. But as you well know, football never stops.

Just because next season won’t kick off for another 204 days (but who’s counting?!), that doesn’t mean football falls to the wayside. There’s the draft to look ahead to as well as free agency and whatever Aaron Rodgers decides when he emerges from his darkness retreat.

Elsewhere in the sports world, basketball season—both college and NBA—is in full swing with March approaching and baseball is right around the corner as spring training commences.

In today’s Winners Club you’ll find:

Super Bowl LVIII Futures Odds and NFL Coaching News

Many people (myself included) learned the dangers of betting against Mahomes last week. Even though he was dealing with a high-ankle sprain, he delivered, as a rare underdog no less.

Accordingly, Kansas City is the favorite to win it all again in 2024 at SI Sportsbook and occupies the No. 1 spot in the final MMQB power rankings of the season.

The top tier of contenders is as follows:

Kansas City Chiefs +600
Buffalo Bills +750
San Francisco 49ers +750
Philadelphia Eagles +800
Cincinnati Bengals +900
Dallas Cowboys +1400
Los Angeles Chargers +2000
New York Jets +2200
Baltimore Ravens +2500
Jacksonville Jaguars +2500
Detroit Lions +2500

For more post-Super Bowl content, consult Michael Fabiano’s Super Bowl LVII fantasy and betting recap in which he discusses the trends Mahomes broke by winning the Big Game this season and Jalen Hurts’s all-time fantasy performance. And be sure to check out Craig Ellenport’s takeaways as he ponders the future fantasy stock of the young skill position players for the Chiefs and Eagles who delivered on offense.

The Eagles have the fourth-best odds to not only get back to the Super Bowl, but win it next year. Coach Nick Sirianni will have to accomplish that feat with new coordinators on both sides of the ball, though.

Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon is the next head coach for the Cardinals and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen was tapped for the Colts’ top job.

Both Arizona and Indianapolis severely underperformed this past season, which led to the firing of Kliff Kingsbury and Frank Reich, respectively.

In other coaching news, the Ravens hired former Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken to fill the same role in Baltimore. Monken returns to the NFL after winning back-to-back national championships in the same role with the Bulldogs. And Jim Caldwell is set to join the Carolina coaching staff as a senior assistant under Reich, who got the Panthers’ top job a few weeks ago.

On Tuesday it became official: Derek Carr is no longer a member of the Raiders after the franchise that drafted him in 2014 released the veteran quarterback.

It was a cost-saving move on the part of Las Vegas, which would have had to pay him $40.4 million in guarantees if he remained on the roster after the league’s transaction deadline. He is now eligible to sign with any team he pleases as a free agent.

It seemed very recently that Carr was headed to New Orleans via trade, but that ultimately fell through.

Fabiano ranked the five best fantasy landing spots for Carr and Albert Breer wrote about what the interest for Carr on the open market might look like and how he fits into this year’s quarterback carousel.

Astros Favored to Repeat as Spring Training Begins

Baseball is back in Florida and Arizona this week and Opening Day is just 43 days away.

To get reaccustomed with the top projected teams for the coming season, consult Jen Piacenti’s breakdown of the World Series futures odds. The Astros, who beat the Phillies in six games last fall, are the favorites to return to the sport’s mountaintop and their toughest competition will come from some of the usual suspects.

Below are the teams with the best odds to win the World Series in October:

Houston Astros +550
Los Angeles Dodgers +600
New York Mets +700
New York Yankees +800
Toronto Blue Jays +900
Atlanta Braves +900
San Diego Padres +1000
Philadelphia Phillies +1600
Seattle Mariners +1600
St. Louis Cardinals +2200
Tampa Bay Rays +2200

To further prepare for spring training, Emma Baccellieri and Matt Martell asked and answered four burning questions, including who the top remaining free agents are and what rule changes fans should be aware of. Speaking of alterations to the rulebook… Tom Verducci wrote about how the ban of the shift will make baseball a more exciting product with left-handed hitters enjoying the biggest boost.

In Other News

Nikola Jokić Favored to win Third Straight NBA MVP: The Nuggets big man is the odds-on favorite to win the award yet again, ahead of back-to-back runner up Joel Embiid and previous two-time winner Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Best Bets for Alabama-Tennessee SEC Hoops Showdown: The No. 10 Volunteers are a slim home favorite against the top-ranked Crimson Tide. Tennessee has been on a bit of a slide as of late while Alabama just moved up to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 this week.

NBA Reveals All-Star Weekend Challenge Participants: The league announced the official lineups for the three-point contest, skills challenge and dunk contests, all of which are scheduled to take place this weekend in Salt Lake City. Mac McClung is a surprising yet exciting addition to the dunk contest and Damian Lillard headlines a stacked field in the three-point contest.

A New No. 1 in the Latest March Madness Bracketology Update: Alabama took the top overall spot from Purdue after the Boilermakers suffered a surprising upset loss last week. Check in with the rest of the projected field of 68 with conference tournaments approaching.

Thanks for reading Winners Club! I’ll be back in your inbox Friday. Until then.

Published Feb 15, 2023

KYLE WOOD

Kyle is based in Washington, D.C. He writes the Winners Club newsletter and is a fantasy and betting writer for SI. His work has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald and Gainesville Sun.