Zach Thompson goes game-by-game and previews Week 5 of the UFL season.
This article originally appeared on theUFL.com!
Week 4 in the UFL featured plenty of excitement on the field, including two expansion teams getting their first wins in history. Another new team stayed undefeated, while the other undefeated team lost to a previously winless opponent. Off the field, the league was shaken up by major trades over the last week, with multiple starting quarterbacks on the move. Week 5 gets underway on Friday, April 17, so let’s run down what to expect with the help of some of the odds from DraftKings Sportsbook. Bookmark this UFL betting splits page and check back throughout the season for DraftKings Network’s ongoing coverage.
The DC Defenders start the week on the road against Birmingham on Friday night on FOX. Saturday night is another huge matchup between the St. Louis Battlehawks and the undefeated Orlando Storm on ESPN. The Sunday doubleheader on ABC that closes the week features the Columbus Aviators looking to get a second straight win as they visit the Houston Gamblers, followed by the Louisville Kings taking on the Dallas Renegades in the final matchup of the week. Let’s take a closer look at each contest and where all the trade pieces landed after the blockbuster trades.
The Defenders won and covered the spread for their third straight game last week, holding on to beat the Battlehawks, 28-22. The defending champions are now the favorites to repeat as champions according to the futures market on DraftKings Sportsbook.
The Defenders got a big game from QB Jordan Ta’amu, who threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns while adding a team-high 61 yards on the ground. The dual-threat QB from Hawaii is one of the biggest stars in the UFL and will look to keep his team rolling as they head to Birmingham to take on the Stallions.
While the Defenders are rolling, Birmingham’s offense struggled in Week 4, not scoring a single point against Orlando in a 16-0 loss in their home opener. The Stallions didn’t wait long to make a change after losing their third straight game, though, trading quarterback Matt Corral and edge rusher Amani Bledsoe to Orlando in exchange for QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson the next day after their loss.
DTR showed some intriguing upside during his time with the Browns and is now expected to step right in as the Stallions’ starting QB after Corral started the first four games for the Stallions in his third season with the team.
The Defenders’ defense will be a tough test for the new signal caller, as they look to claim their fourth straight win and continue to establish themselves as the frontrunners. The Stallions could take a significant step forward but still come up short against the Defenders, and with a short week to make a transition at QB, I’m not confident enough to take them even plus the points.
The Storm’s defense was the star of their Week 4 win over Birmingham, recording the first shutout in the UFL since 2024. The Storm defense was led by Kyahva Tezino, who finished the game with seven solo tackles and 10 total tackles. They allowed only 36 rushing yards and kept Birmingham from getting a first down on all but one of their 13 third downs in a dominant performance.
Even though they’re undefeated, Orlando has played an easier schedule and still only has the third-shortest odds to win the championship, behind D.C. and Dallas, who already have losses.
Orlando’s offense was good enough to get the job done with their defense playing so well, with Jack Plummer making enough plays both through the air and on the ground, while kicker Michael Lantz went a perfect 3-for-3 on his field goal attempts.
They’ll look to stay undefeated and incorporate new acquisition Amani Bledsoe into their already stout defense as they host the Battlehawks. Earlier this week, St. Louis added a QB via trade by acquiring Luis Perez from the Renegades. Perez earned his nickname, the “Spring King,” after multiple successful spring football seasons, including winning the XFL Championship game MVP for the Renegades before leading the UFL in passing in 2024 and 2025. The Spring King was dethroned this season, though, and Austin Reed has played very well for Dallas after beating him out for the job.
With backup quarterback Michael Pratt injured, the Battlehawks could stick with some combination of Brandon Silvers and Harrison Frost, who have struggled this season, or they could go right to Perez, even though he was just traded on Tuesday. Silvers was benched in Week 3, and Frost only completed 29% of his pass attempts in the team’s Week 4 loss to DC.
The Battlehawks sit at 2-2 after four games despite the questionable QB play. Both of their wins were at home, and both of their losses were on the road. If this game were in the BattleDome, I might take them to hand the Storm their first loss of the year, but on the road, I think Orlando will find a way to stay undefeated once again, catching the Battlehawks in the middle of a QB shakeup that will make them better long-term but could hurt them this week.
The Aviators and Gamblers are two of the four 1-3 teams in the UFL that have to get climbing fast if they want to qualify for the postseason. After this week, the season will be half over, and both these teams are looking to get going in the right direction this week in Houston.
The Gamblers got their one victory of the season over the Dallas Renegades in one of the biggest upsets of the year in the UFL. They have lost their two games since then, falling to the Defenders and the Kings, allowing Louisville to get its first franchise win. Last week’s loss to Louisville came after a nice second-half rally for the Gamblers with Taulia Tagovailoa taking over for Nolan Henderson and playing well.
The Gamblers could start Tagovailoa this week, or go back to Henderson, but either way, it’ll be likely that they rely heavily on the running game led by Marcus Yarns, Marcus Majors and Jalen White. White led the team in carries, but Yarns ended up with 111 yards thanks to a 68-yard touchdown just after halftime.
On the other side, the Aviators will also rely heavily on the ground game that led them to their first franchise win last week. They pulled off the upset against the Dallas Renegades, who they were facing for a second straight week. The team set a UFL record with 47 rushing attempts and racked up over 201 yards on the ground. It was Dallas’s first loss of the season.
The Aviators’ offense continues to be mistake-prone and susceptible to turnovers, but they did enough to get the first win for coach Ted Ginn Jr. last week.
On the road this week, the Aviators’ offense isn’t reliable enough for me to give the points. While I don’t know that the Gamblers have enough to get the upset win at home, I do think they’ll at least cover in this matchup, so I’ll take them and the points in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader.
In the final game of the week, the 1-3 Kings take on the 3-1 Renegades. Dallas will be smarting from that first loss of the season on the road as they come home to take on the Kings, who have played back-to-back overtime games, losing to Orlando in Week 3 and beating the Gamblers in Week 4.
Even the win wasn’t enough for the Kings to keep starting quarterback Jason Bean in place, though. They traded him to DC for quarterback Mike DiLiello, and they’re expected to start quarterback Chandler Rogers in his place.
Rogers is in his first year as a pro after playing at Louisiana-Monroe, North Texas, and California in his college career. He has been mixing in for some series behind Bean, but now he’ll take over the full-time job starting in this week’s brutal spot against the Renegades.
Dallas has the second-best odds to win the title and was the favorite until last week’s loss in Columbus. They’ll be fired up to be back home, where they are 3-0 and have won by an average of 13.3 points per game. Austin Reed and Dae Dae Hunter were largely kept off the field by the Aviators’ ground-heavy attack last week, but look for them to bounce back with a big performance against the Kings to close out the week.
I’d be looking for a big Renegades win even if Bean was still in place for the Kings, but especially with a QB change for Louisville, I think Dallas will have no trouble covering at home.
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