Winners Club: Addressing Your Fantasy Needs with Free Agents

Plus, odds and schedule for Phillies-Astros World Series and a Super Bowl odds update.

The final score of Monday night’s game between the Bears and Patriots sure was shocking, and it was refreshing to see both teams take a few trips to the endzone in a prime-time game.

Onto Week 8 of the NFL season after Week 7 brought a handful of trades, some worrisome injuries and two more wins for the New York teams.

In today’s Winners Club, you’ll find:

• Fantasy waiver wire assistance
• NFL injury news
• World Series schedule, odds
• Where Super Bowl odds stand
• NFL Week 8 betting guide

RB Trades, WR Injuries Reinforce Waiver Wire Importance

Days after the Christian McCaffrey trade sent shockwaves through the fantasy football world—and opened the door for D’Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard in Carolina—another running back is on the move.

The Jets sent the Jaguars a fourth- and fifth-round pick in exchange for James Robinson. This follows the devastating news that New York’s second-round rookie Breece Hall tore his ACL on Sunday against the Broncos and will miss the remainder of the season.

This deal alters the backfield dynamics for the Jets and Jaguars. Travis Etienne Jr., a 2021 first-round selection, is now the clear-cut RB1 in Jacksonville, and things have been trending in that direction for a few weeks now. It’s also good news for Robinson, a former undrafted player who’s already carved out a nice career in the league. Robinson’s arrival chops Michael Carter’s value in New York as he was primed to get the lion’s share of work once Hall went down.

Also worth noting before we get into this week’s waiver wire pickups, Mike Williams (ankle) and DK Metcalf (knee) both went down with injuries Sunday. The Chargers are on bye this week (along with the Chiefs), so there will likely be more news on Williams’ status entering Week 9.

To help you navigate your way through the free agent pool, Jen Piacenti has recommendations for players to pick up at each position and gauge how much of your budget to spend to get them. And Matt De Lima also has a detailed waiver wire report for all the IDPers out there, plus more from De Lima in his Week 8 Dynasty Stock Watch.

Douglas DeFelice/USA TODAY Sports

Michael Fabiano has 10 fantasy takeaways from Week 7, Craig Ellenport touched on Josh Jacobs and Melvin Gordon in his fantasy fallout piece, and I wrote about Austin Ekeler, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Parris Campbell in Good News, Bad News.

More news of note: Sam Ehlinger will start at quarterback for the Colts over Matt Ryan for the rest of the season, P.J. Walker was named the starting quarterback in Carolina regardless of the status of Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold, Chargers All-Pro cornerback J.C. Jackson is out for the season due to a ruptured patellar tendon in his knee, Giants offensive tackle Evan Neal is expected to miss 3-4 weeks due to an MCL injury and Bill Bellichick says the plan all along was for both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe to play.

Astros Heavily Favored Against Phillies in World Series

Philadelphia and Houston made it official Sunday: The Phillies will represent the National League, and the Astros back the American League in the World Series.

Before the season began, Houston had the third-best odds to win it all at +900. Philadelphia believers have a much larger payout at stake—its +2500 odds were tied for the 13th-best.

Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports

Heading into the series, which begins Friday, the Astros are -250 favorites at SI Sportsbook, and the Phillies are +150. The most likely series score is a 4-2 or 4-3 Houston win (tied at +350).

Below is the series schedule. Check back in Thursday’s newsletter for a more complete preview of the matchup.

• Game 1: Friday, Oct. 28 at 8:03 p.m. ET in Houston
• Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 29 at 8:03 p.m. ET in Houston
• Game 3: Monday, Oct. 31 at 8:03 p.m. ET in Philadelphia
• Game 4: Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 8:03 p.m. ET in Philadelphia
• Game 5: Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 8:03 p.m. ET in Philadelphia (if necessary)
• Game 6: Friday, Nov. 4 at 8:03 p.m. ET in Houston (if necessary)
• Game 7: Saturday, Nov. 5 at 8:03 p.m. ET in Houston (if necessary)

Bills, Eagles, Chiefs in a Class Above the Rest

In order, Buffalo, Kansas City and Philadelphia are the top three teams in the latest NFL power rankings, and they unsurprisingly have the best Super Bowl odds.

The Bills were idle this week but can be found as low as +275 favorites at SI Sportsbook. Essentially, the 5-1 Bills are in their own tier (at least from a betting perspective), and then there’s the two-team tier of the 6-0 Eagles (+550) and 5-2 Chiefs (+650).

The next closest teams have odds twice as long as Kansas City. With seven weeks behind us, here’s a look at where the top teams’ Super Bowl odds stood before the season and where they are now:

Buffalo Bills: +600 → +275

Philadelphia Eagles: +1800 → +550

Kansas City Chiefs: +900 → +650

San Francisco 49ers: +1400 → +1400

Minnesota Vikings: +3300 → +1400

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: +700 → +1600

Baltimore Ravens: +1800 → +1800

Dallas Cowboys: +1800 → +1800

Cincinnati Bengals: +2000 → +2000

Los Angeles Chargers: +1400 → +2000

Los Angeles Rams: +1000 → +2000

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

In Other News

Odds for Aaron Judge’s Next Team: The Yankees All-Star outfielder and AL MVP favorite bet on himself before the season is due for a massive payday. But which team will he end up with? New York is the favorite to retain his services, but the Giants and Dodgers could also make a run at him.

NFL Week 8 Betting Guide: See what games are available for this week’s SI Sportsbook Perfect 10 contest and where the lines lie with plenty of time between now and Sunday to make your picks and get in on the action.

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Thanks for reading Winners Club! And remember, you can reach me at winnersclub@si.com for any fantasy or sports betting questions you may have.