How to play NFL Survivor
NFL Survivor is a popular format because the rules are simple, the pressure builds each week, and one wrong pick can change everything.
Pick Weekly
Choose one team each week that you think will win. Plan carefully, as you can only choose a team once over the course of the season.
Stay Alive
If your team wins, you survive and move on. If your team loses, your entry is eliminated, which makes every week feel like a playoff game.
Outlast Everyone
Keep surviving while the rest of the pool gets knocked out. Make it through the season and finish as the last entry standing to win your pool.
NFL Survivor Pool Examples
See the features that make running an NFL Survivor pool online easy for commissioners and fun for players.
Make Picks from Any Device
Players can submit their NFL Survivor picks from anywhere, whether they’re at work, at home, or on the go. Picks are optimized for mobile devices and work just as smoothly on desktop and tablet.
Follow the Survivor Grid
The Results page shows a clear survivor grid of which teams were picked, who advanced, and who was eliminated. It makes it easy to follow the drama of your knockout pool as the field narrows.
Post Updates and Talk Trash
Every pool includes a private message board where members can post updates, talk trash, and keep the conversation going. It gives your group a place to stay connected all season long.
Built for Commissioners
Everything you need to manage players, customize rules, and keep your NFL Survivor pool running smoothly all season.
Pick Rules
Play straight up or against the spread
Elimination Options
Set the number of losses allowed
Flexible Deadlines
Choose start-of-week or Sunday deadlines
Multiple Entries
For players who want more action
Commissioner Controls
Manage picks and entries for any player
Automated Results
Winners are calculated automatically
Export Results
For custom analysis and recordkeeping
Pool History
Results are stored from previous seasons
Frequently Asked Questions
An NFL Survivor pool is a football pool where players pick one team to win each week from the weekly NFL schedule. If your team wins, your entry stays alive. If your team loses, or the game ends in a tie, your entry is eliminated.
Yes. NFL Survivor pool, NFL knockout pool, NFL suicide pool, survival pool, and survivor league football are commonly used to describe the same basic format. Different groups may use different names, but the idea is the same: keep surviving each week until only one entry remains.
Learning how to play NFL Survivor is easy. Each week, players pick one team they believe will win. If the pick is correct, the entry advances. If the pick is wrong, that entry is eliminated from the pool.
On Gridiron Games, commissioners can customize their survivor pool settings to match their preferred rules, including multiple entries, flexible pick deadlines, and whether the pool picks straight up or against the spread.
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 Survivor pools, entries are season-long. As an example, if you have 10 players each submitting one entry for 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 through the site.
This depends on your pool’s settings. For NFL Survivor pools, we offer the following pick deadlines:
- Start of Week: Weekly picks are due by the first game of each week.
- Sunday at 1pm ET: Weekly picks are due by Sunday at 1pm ET. If selecting a team from a game that occurs before Sunday at 1pm ET, picks are due by kickoff of that game.
Please note: If using the Sunday deadline, players can still pick teams from earlier games however their pick will be due by kickoff of that game and will be locked after the game begins.
Yes. If your NFL Survivor pool is configured to allow multiple entries, players can submit them from the Picks page. After submitting the first entry, a green button becomes available that allows players to create a new entry, and a dropdown lets them switch between entries throughout the season.
If all remaining players are eliminated in the same week, the system will prompt the commissioner to decide whether the pool should end or continue. If the commissioner ends the pool, multiple winners can be crowned. If the commissioner continues the pool, the eliminated picks will be marked as a mulligan and those entries can keep playing in future weeks.
At the moment, the site does not have built-in tiebreakers for NFL Survivor pools because different groups prefer different rules. In cases where multiple entries make it to the end, many pools use the fewest incorrect picks as the first tiebreaker, then apply additional rules such as longest correct streak if needed.