As the NFL and sports wagering continue to rise in popularity, survivor pools seem to draw more and more collective interest each season. And with many of the NFL survivor contests free to enter with prizes on the line, there's no reason not to jump into these pools and try to be the last contestant on survivor island.
The Sporting News has everything you need to know about NFL survivor pool strategy, including the best free contests on the web and the top tips and tricks to win them. Don't miss out on a free lottery ticket, and don't overlook the strategies that could help you be the last entry standing!
Of course, it's important to know the vocabulary around these contests before diving in. Here are some alternate names for contests that exist under the "survivor pool" umbrella:
- NFL survival challenges
- NFL eliminator challenges
- NFL Eliminator pools
- NFL knockout pools
- NFL last man standing
- NFL king of the hill
- NFL suicide pools
No matter what you call your preferred contest — just like beer pong in college — survivor pools are still a lot of fun. But they're only fun for as long as your entry is alive! Nobody wants to join a potentially season-long contest and then get eliminated in Week 1. That's why the list below will also be coupled with some general strategies.
Let's get right into it.
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Best free NFL survivor pools in 2024
One of PoolGenius's great features is that for every survivor pool you enter, you can customize league settings — pool size, number of personal entries, etc. — to fully optimize your picks to win. Every pool is different so naturally, strategy can change from pool to pool even within the same week.
DraftKings FREE $1M Pro Football Survivor
The big kahuna of the free NFL survivor contest market, DraftKings already has nearly 600,000 entrants in its $1 Million Pro Football Survivor contest. Talk about a game-changing sum of money! As the pool is so high and the number of contestants is so massive, DraftKings made the wise decision to only allow one entry per user.
CBS Sports Football Pick'em
Another massive contest that should finish with an insane number of entrants, CBS Sports Football Pick'em features a $100,000 jackpot. The margin for error, like with DraftKings, will be very low considering it's a single-elimination format with a max of one entry per user. But that grand prize, though!
ESPN Eliminator Challenge Presented by ESPN Bet
One of the whoppers of the free survivor contest landscape, ESPN's Eliminator Challenge has a grand prize five times larger than the majority of its competitors. And that's not all — you can also create up to 25 entries! Talk about a guaranteed traffic driver! The only downside is that your odds of winning will be very low considering the sheer volume this contest will see this year. But if you can stay on top of it — and even contend through Week 10 — just imagine the rollercoaster of emotions throughout the season!
2024-2025 USA Today Pro Football Survivor Pool
One of the most popular pools running, the USA Today Survivor Pool features a fantastic $5,000 top prize. The entrant who survives the longest with the highest point differential wins the grand prize. What do we mean by point differential? It's a built-in tie-breaker that reduces the odds of having multiple winners at the end of the season. The point differentials of your selections are tallied throughout the season, and the survivor with the highest point differential wins any end-of-season tie.
Yahoo! Survival Football Challenge
Another leading name in free sports challenges with prizes, Yahoo has one of the most popular NFL survivor challenges on the Internet. Register to join the Survival Football Challenge group, join a friends' existing group, or create your own private group to play with family and friends. Custom contests allow you to play with a strike system so teams get a second or third chance if and when they pick incorrectly.
The Lines Pro Football Survivor
Another free contest with a $5,000 grand prize, The Lines' Pro Football Survivor is overseen by Catena Media affiliate betting site The Lines. The contest should increase exposure for the site, which obviously has less brand recognition than the aforementioned power players of the industry.
NFL survivor pools: Strategies, tips and tricks
Check out our complete breakdown of NFL survivor pool strategy, courtesy of our partners at PoolGenius. Looking for something simpler? We've got you covered right here.
Draft a plan at the start of the season
Decide whether your entry will be based entirely on first instinct and gut decisions or 100 percent research. Map out your first few weeks of picks, or maybe even your picks for the entire 18-week regular season. You can never be too prepared for an NFL survivor pool.
Pivot when necessary
Like Ross trying to carry a couch up a narrow stairwell in "Friends," sometimes you need to pivot. A team you thought at the start of the season would be a lock to win its Week 4 matchup might lose its starting QB to injury or fire its head coach. Don't marry yourself to a plan, strategy, or 18-week list of picks. Just like in fantasy and betting, we sometimes need to change up our order of attack.
Don't always follow the crowd
The proverbial sheep often get slaughtered in betting, and the same often happens in pick'em and survivor pools. Being slightly different than the crowd doesn't just make for fun stories — it often serves as the difference between an early exit and a true contender of an entry.
Have fun with it
Remember that the odds of winning, from the get-go, are statistically very low. Treat survivor pools like a free scratch ticket that you can improve your chances with thanks to some educated guesswork. But if you lose, what's the worry? You were expected to fail, anyway, and the L didn't cost you a thing. Sports — and any contest related to watching sports — should be fun, first and foremost.
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