NFL Survivor 2025 Week 5
Probably the most popular football contest ever, Survivor only requires you to pick 1 game winner each week. The catch, you can’t use the same team twice. Here are some different strategies that I’m applying each week, and of course the teams I expect to win.
DraftKings Pools offers multiple NFL Survivor contests each season with entry fees ranging from $10 to $1,000. If I’m going to enter a $1,000 Survivor contest, it would be the Circa Survivor, which pays out $15 million to the winner. I haven’t had as much success with survivor as I have with pick ’em pools, so I stay to the $10 and $100 entries. This year, I have 40 entries in the $10 pool (winner gets $1.2 million) and 3 entries in $100 contest (winner gets $900 thousand). They are also running 2nd and 3rd chance survivor pools that I will enter and follow similar strategies as outlined below.
Option Strategy
The option strategy requires a user to make a contest entry on both sides of a game. This will ensure that 1 entry moves on to the next week. However, it also means 1 entry will be eliminated. It is a good strategy to use early in the season. It allows you to get a better understanding of each team, avoid the early upsets and save good teams for later in the season.
In week 4 I used the option strategy on the Tennessee at Houston game. That leaves me with 3, 2 and 4 entries in the 3 different contests DraftKings are running. I’ll continue the option strategy once again in week 5 using New York Giants at New Orleans Saints. This will eliminate 1 entries in 2 contests and 2 entries in the 3rd contest. The 3rd entry in the first contest will once again use the New Mexico strategy.
New Mexico Strategy
The New Mexico strategy is a selection of teams using the New Mexico pick ’em model. I use this model for against the spread predictions, and this season I’m running it in the Circa Millions and Westgate SuperContest. I will start with the teams it likes to win big, and then consider if they are home/away or playing a divisional opponent.
The Lions completely smashed the Browns last week, making the New Mexico selection an easy victory. For this weeks selection, New Mexico likes the Colts. Besides being a large favorite, Indianapolis is at home and playing a team for a different division. Plus, that teams is from the west coast, and must travel across the country for a 1 pm eastern start. Lots to like for the Colts to win this game.
What teams are you taking this week and why? Let me know in the comments.
