Fantasy football is undoubtedly one of life's greatest gifts. Not only is there the usual way to play, but there is tons of variety within the yearly game as well. If setting a full lineup and researching matchups is too time-consuming for some people, then a survivor pool could be more up their alley.
It's simple. Pick the winner from one NFL game every week until you get one wrong. Sounds easy enough, but when additional rules get thrown in, it can become more difficult as the season progresses. It's all about picking the right team to win every week and understanding when is the time to pick a huge favorite and when is the time to go with someone else to preserve that massive favorite for a different, more challenging week.
There's nothing stopping you from doing tons of research and determining when the optimal time to pick certain teams is before the season even starts. However, not everyone has time to do that research, so here are a few tips to help you out before you start picking winners.
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What is a survivor pool?
For those unfamiliar with this type of league, a survivor pool is a cutthroat picking system in which contestants pick a winner from one game every week of the NFL season. The catch is that one wrong pick means that your season is over.
Some leagues are a little more forgiving, offering players one or two strikes before being eliminated for good. Some leagues even allow players to buy their way back in, but many are one-and-done. While that may still sound easy to some people, it's made even harder when you realize that you cannot pick the same team twice all year. Anyone thinking they'd just pick the Ravens and 49ers all season will be sorely disappointed when they become unavailable after Weeks 1 and 2.
Tips for survivor pools:
1) Be willing to change your plan
If you are someone who went ahead and planned out a pick for all 18 weeks, don't be afraid to change your picks throughout the season. This is the NFL we're talking about. There are bound to be injuries, underperformers, and other variables that will change a team's outlook in the middle of the season. Stubbornness, arrogance, or any unwillingness to change with the times could spell the end of your survivor pool run.
2) Lean toward bad teams over great teams
As great as a team like the Kansas City Chiefs is, they still lost six games last season. The best record in the NFL belonged to the Baltimore Ravens at 13-4, but the worst team in the NFL belonged to the Carolina Panthers at 2-15.
Survivor pools only allow you to pick a specific team once per season. However, you can bet against a team as many times as you like. A good strategy for going far in survivor pools with a lot of the best teams available is by simply picking the league's worst team's opponent each week.
For example, the New Orleans Saints are not a great team. They are a very mediocre team, and thus, picking them to win any given week can sometimes feel like a coin flip. However, the Saints have won six of their last seven games at home against Carolina. Carolina did make some improvements this offseason, but the Saints should still be the better team, so choosing them to win in Week 1 at home against Carolina could be a good way to maintain some of the league's more sure-fire teams without losing much.
3) You can't win next week if you lose this week
While it's tempting to hold onto the best teams in the league until the end of the season, choosing a questionable team over a sure-fire winner can lead to your downfall. All it takes is one loss to end your season, and all that matters is being the last person alive in your pool, not making it through all 18 weeks.
While having teams like the Chiefs, Ravens, and 49ers all geared up for the final three weeks of the regular season is nearly a guaranteed win, it's much safer to pick those teams earlier on and stay alive.
4) Take as much of the unknown out of the equation as possible
The beginning of the NFL season is the most unpredictable part of the season. While a team like the Atlanta Falcons is expected to be much better this year after changing head coaches and adding impact players like Kirk Cousins and Justin Simmons, their chemistry could be all out of whack. If all of their new pieces don't mesh together, then the Falcons could be one of the most disappointing teams of the season, but you won't know that until the season gets going. Choosing a team like the Falcons to win early on could be a very risky move.
At the start of the season, it'd be smart to pick teams that have very few question marks following them into the season, teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, etc.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2024 fantasy football survivor pools: Advice, tips, how to stay alive picking NFL games
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