NFL survivor Week 6 picks grid: Most popular teams, top PoolGenius odds and more

The 2024 NFL season has seen a plethora of underdogs not just cover but win, but things have started to even out a bit as we approach the one-third mark of the regular season. If you're still competing in your survivor pools — or if you're in a two-strike contest or simply started fresh — we have the data you'll need to make a solid Week 6 pick.

The Sporting News has been running with affiliate partner PoolGenius all season to help you make informed survivor pool decisions. Every week, this column highlights the teams that rank as the week's most popular picks and teams with the highest win probability.

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PoolGenius is a sports data site living under the TeamRankings umbrella. Its mission: to provide you with the statistical information you need to succeed as bettors, fantasy players, and pool entrants.

Today, like we do every Friday, we're going to the grid. Each week, PG updates its NFL Survivor Data Grid. It ranks every team scheduled for the week based on PG odds (win probability), pick popularity, and more.

This info — as well as the NFL Survivor Season Planner — are invaluable resources for serious survivor contestants looking to map out a season-long strategy.

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Let's get to the NFL survivor picks grid for Week 6 of the 2024 regular season, highlighting the teams with the best PoolGenius odds as well as the most popular picks of the week. 

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NFL Survivor Week 6 picks grid: Best and most popular picks 

All odds and data courtesy of PoolGenius.

NFL Survivor Week 6 picks grid: Key takeaways 

Three teams serve as the overwhelmingly popular picks for Week 6. Coming off a bye week at home versus the lowly Browns, the Eagles have been picked in over one-third of all remaining survivor pools. Two road teams — the Texans at Patriots and Falcons at Panthers — have been picked in nearly 20 percent of pools each. 

Only two teams outside that big three have been picked in over three percent of pools: the Packers (vs. Cardinals) and Ravens (vs. Commanders). And while neither of those two picks are as strong a favorite as Philly versus Deshaun Watson's Browns, each might be more optimal than the Texans and Falcons.

Jordan Love has started to click for Green Bay, and the Packers defense at Lambeau will be a tough out for a young Cardinals team. Reigning MVP Lamar Jackson also seems like a great bet against Rookie of the Year frontrunner an early MVP candidate Jayden Daniels.

Baltimore just survived a barnburner against the Bengals — the Ravens are on a different stratosphere than the young, fun Commanders. Who on Washington stops Derrick Henry? Who covers Zay Flowers downfield? How does Dan Quinn's squad survive a road game against an LJax/King Henry RPO scheme?

Other options also exist if you don't have the Eagles, Packers, or Ravens available. Of the teams yet to play this week, every squad in the bottom-half of the PoolGenius top 10 win probabilities makes for a solid choice. Let's take a look, and briefly explain why all five are worth consideration:

• Bengals at Giants (64% odds, 3% of picks): Joe Burrow and Cincy just dueled with Baltimore, and they won't take the Giants lightly after New York upset Seattle. Big blue could be without stud rookie wideout Malik Nabers, and the G-Men still have issues on the offensive line and defense.
• Bucs at Saints (64% odds, 3% of picks): Baker Mayfield has quietly been one of the NFL's best QBs this season, and now he just has to out-duel Spencer Rattler and a banged-up Saints offense. 
• Titans vs. Colts (61% odds, 0% of picks): The Colts are kind of a mess, and the Titans D beat up against the last mess of a team they played (the Dolphins way back on Sep. 30). Tennessee had nearly two weeks to prepare for this one, so don't expect Joe Flacco or Anthony Richardson or whoever is starting to escape Nashville with a victory. 
• Lions at Cowboys (60% odds, 1% of picks): The Cowboys have looked bad on both sides of the ball at various points this season, and the Lions remain among the most impressive all-around teams in the NFL. Coming off a bye, Dan Campbell's squad should be able to compete well in Arlington. 
• Steelers at Raiders (58% odds, 2% of picks): Pittsburgh has a damn good culture as a hard-nosed offense and hard-hitting defense, and it should be able to capitalize on a Raiders team that will start Aidan O'Connell and potentially be without Davante Adams, Zamir White, and Maxx Crosby. 

It's a buffet of strong options, so hopefully you feel confident with the one you lock in ahead of Sunday's slate. Good luck, have fun, and enjoy Week 6 of the NFL season. Cheers to staying alive and moving one step closer to your contest's jackpot!

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. Some pools even allow you to join midway through the season, so be sure to check out each one. 

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 friend's existing group, or create your 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 has less brand recognition than the aforementioned power players in the industry. 

NFL survivor pools: Strategies, tips and tricks

Check out our complete breakdown of the 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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