The holiday season is fast approaching, but we’ve got a busy week of NFL action ahead of the Thanksgiving week slate. Week 11 features quite a few matchups with significant playoff implications. The week opens with Bengals-Ravens on Thursday and closes with a Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs on Monday. In between, we get Steelers-Browns, Raiders-Dolphins, and 49ers-Bucs among others.
Another week of football means another week of Survivor pools. If you were eliminated already, DraftKings Sportsbook is offering second (or 11th) chance pools. If you’ve never played in a Survivor pool, it’s a fun alternative to traditional pick ‘em contests. You pick one team each week that you think will win. If your team loses in a given week, you’re eliminated. If your team wins in the given week, you move on to the next week. The catch is that you cannot pick the same team twice across the season.
Each week, I put together a list of Survivor picks that include safe choices, value choices, and potential traps. Last week was hit or miss. I called the Cowboys over the Giants as my safe pick, the Seahawks over the Commanders as my value pick, and the Bills over the Broncos as my trap pick. I nailed the safe and trap picks, but lost on the value pick.
On to Week 11 picks!
Safest picks
Dolphins over Raiders
49ers over Buccaneers
Cowboys over Panthers
There are four double digit favorites this week, and three of them are easy calls. You might have already used these teams, and if not there’s some decent value left with them. Of the three, Dallas makes the most sense because their only remaining value would be the next two weeks at home against Washington and Seattle.
Best value picks
Commanders over Giants
Lions over Bears
Divisional games can be viewed as traps, but you’ve got sizable favorites in these. The Commanders are the other double-digit favorite while the Lions are an 8.5-point favorite. The Bears will have Justin Fields back this weekend, but they’ve been a disaster most of the year.
Trap pick
This is a solid bounce-back opportunity for the Jaguars after the 49ers thumped them in Jacksonville. Their highly-ranked defense could bounce back against rookie QB Will Levis. Regardless, this feels like the trappy divisional game. Additionally, the Jaguars are worth saving for Week 17 at home against the Panthers.