How to play NFL Pick’Em
NFL Pick ‘Em is the most popular football pool because it’s simple to learn, easy to manage, and keeps every week competitive.
Make Picks
Pick one team from every NFL matchup each week before the deadline. Choose carefully, because every correct pick builds toward your weekly and season-long total.
Score Points
Earn points for every correct pick. Depending on your pool settings, you can also add confidence points, tiebreakers, or point spreads to make the game even more strategic.
Claim Victory
Track weekly results, follow the season-long standings, and see how you stack up against the rest of the pool as you compete to finish on top.
NFL Pick’Em Pool Examples
See the features that make running an NFL Football Pick ‘Em pool online easy for commissioners and fun for players.
Make Picks from Any Device
Players can make their picks from anywhere, whether they’re at work, at home, or on the go. The responsive pick form is optimized for mobile devices and works just as smoothly on desktop and tablet.
See Weekly Results Clearly
The Results page shows who picked what, who got it right, and where everyone finished for the week. It gives your pool a clear recap of the action and makes it easy to follow how the week played out.
Track Season-Long Standings
The Standings page shows where every player ranks, who is climbing, and who still has ground to make up. It helps turn weekly picks into a season-long race your pool will keep following from start to finish.
Why run your NFL Pick’Em pool online?
Gridiron Games automates the busywork so your pool can focus on making picks, sweating results, and enjoying the season.
Chasing down players every week and hoping everyone sends their picks in on time.
Players make their own picks online, from any device, before the deadline.
Updating scores by hand, double-checking formulas, and fixing mistakes after games.
Weekly results and season-long standings update automatically as games finish.
Keeping track of last-minute changes and trying to remember which version was final.
Players submit picks before the deadline, commissioners manage changes when needed.
Relying on group texts, email chains, and side conversations to keep everyone updated.
Use the built-in message board and commissioner tools to keep everyone informed.
Keeping records and rebuilding the pool from scratch again next season.
Roll your pool into the next season without any additional setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
NFL Football Pick ‘Em is one of the most popular football pool formats. In an NFL Pick ‘Em pool, players choose one team from every matchup on the weekly NFL schedule and earn points for correct picks. The player with the most points wins the week, and many pools also track season-long standings.
Yes. NFL Pick ‘Em, Pro Football Pick ‘Em, NFL League Pick ‘Em, and Pigskin Pick ‘Em all refer to the same type of pool. Players make picks each week, score points for correct selections, and compete for weekly wins or a season-long title.
Learning how to play NFL Pick’Em is easy. Each week, players pick one team from every matchup and the player with the most correct picks wins the week. In addition to weekly winners, you can also track picks across the full NFL season and crown a season-long winner in your pro football pick em pool.
On Gridiron Games, you can fully customize your settings to match your favorite rules. Play with point spreads, confidence points, flexible pick deadlines, and custom tiebreakers to make the game more strategic and fun.
We use a pay-as-you-go pricing model that allows pools to pay for only the entries they need. To determine the cost of running your pool on the site, check out our pricing calculator. The hosting fee covers the entire season.
For NFL Pick’Em pools, entries are defined on a per-player basis and include picks across all weeks of the season. As an example, if you have 10 players who would like to submit picks across all 18 weeks of the season you only need to purchase 10 entries.
Only the pool commissioner is responsible for paying the hosting fee. Once the commissioner has purchased entries, other players can participate in the pool for free without needing to pay any additional fees.
This depends on your pool’s settings. For NFL Pick’Em pools, we offer the following pick deadlines:
- Start of Week: Weekly picks are due by the first game of each week.
- Start of Day: Daily picks are due by the first game of each day.
- Start of Game: Individual picks are due by the start of each game.
- Sunday at 1pm ET: Weekly picks are due by Sunday at 1pm ET. Games occurring before Sunday at 1pm ET must be picked by kickoff of each game
That depends on your group. Picking straight up is simpler and usually better for casual players because you only need to choose the winner of each game. Picking against the spread (ATS) adds more strategy and is often better for experienced players that want a more competitive challenge.
Confidence point scoring allows players to assign a point value to each game based on how confident they are in their pick. The games you feel best about are worth the most points, which adds more strategy than standard fixed scoring where every game is worth one point.
If multiple players finish the week with the same number of points, tiebreakers are used to determine the weekly winner. Common NFL Pick’Em tiebreakers include predicting the total combined score of the last game of the week, using a second score prediction, or using highest-scoring and lowest-scoring selected teams. Gridiron Games lets commissioners customize which tiebreakers they want to use.