If you have clicked on this NFL Survivor Picks Week 2 article, then I would like to congratulate you on making it through the first week of a new season.
If you were eliminated but are in a league where you can buy back in, then welcome back to the party. Let’s try to avoid going 0-2 to start the season and take a look at some of my favorite survivor pool picks for Week 2 of the NFL season.
Survivor Picks Strategy for NFL Week 2
Let’s start by stating there is no wrong way to go about playing in a survivor league. If you picked the Baltimore Ravens last week because they were the biggest favorite of the week, then congrats! Your strategy worked.
For those of you who prefer to map out all of your survivor picks for the entire season, I’m here for you too.
As mentioned last week, I don’t have any concrete rules when selecting games, but I do have some general guidelines to follow:
- Avoid divisional games
- Avoid picking road teams
- Avoid games with bad weather in the forecast
Additionally, we really want to do everything within our power to avoid using teams that hold significant future value through the first five weeks of the NFL season.
For example, since the Ravens were the most selected team in Week 1 — selected by 32% of survivor league teams according to survivorgrid.com data — I will be excluding them from my selection process in the strategy section of this weekly article moving forward in an attempt to best simulate your survivor scenario situation for the week.
If you have any survivor questions specific to your league, please don’t hesitate to follow me on Twitter @DerekTateNFL to send me a message or join our Discord channel so we can talk on that platform.
Teams No Longer Available To Select
Week 1: Baltimore Ravens (Selected by 32% of survivor league teams)
This is where identifying teams who aren’t necessarily the biggest favorite of the week can strongly benefit you as the season progresses.
For example, the Ravens helped many of you advance to this point, but wouldn’t you prefer to have them still available to select for a future week? Sure, it would have been a little riskier to put your faith in the Washington Commanders, but their matchup against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 gave you an alternative option to play, so you could potentially use Baltimore down the road this season.
MORE: Early NFL Week 2 Predictions and Picks 2023
With the Ravens no longer available to select, some of the teams that hold the most future value for the rest of the 2023 season are the Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Miami Dolphins.
To accomplish that objective, here are two sets of strategies you could deploy to keep those teams available heading into October.
Strategy 1
Week 2: New York Giants (vs. ARI)
Week 3: Seattle Seahawks (vs. CAR)
Week 4: Minnesota Vikings (vs. CAR)
Week 5: Cincinnati Bengals (@ ARI)
Top teams still available: KC, PHI, BUF, SF, BAL, DAL, LAC, MIA, JAX
Strategy 2
Week 2: New York Giants (vs. ARI)
Week 3: Dallas Cowboys (vs. ARI)
Week 4: Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. HOU)
Week 5: Detroit Lions (vs. CAR)
Top teams still available: KC, PHI, CIN, BUF, SF, LAC, MIA, JAX
In both strategies, you get to keep more than a handful of projected playoff teams with some elite options at quarterback available after the first month of the season, which really comes into play once bye weeks begin in Week 5.
Chalk Picks
We went 2-0 with our chalk picks from last week, which means you’re still looking for the next team to help you advance in your survivor league.
Here’s a look at some of the chalkiest picks for Week 2, according to Numberfire.com.
The choice is yours whether or not you want to avoid some of these popular picks and attempt to take advantage of a major upset. Nonetheless, here are some of the chalk selections I like heading into Week 2 of the 2023 NFL season.
Buffalo Bills (vs. LV)
It was a rough 2023 season debut for Bills quarterback Josh Allen. His four turnovers on Monday Night Football helped fuel the Aaron Rodgers-less New York Jets to an overtime upset.
If you’re a believer in Allen, then you should be optimistic about his matchup in Week 2. The Las Vegas Raiders defense failed to generate any turnovers in their Week 1 win over the Denver Broncos.
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If you remain a believer in Buffalo being a real Super Bowl contender, then they can ill afford to start the season 0-2 in a loaded AFC. Expect Allen to have a big day through the air against a secondary that is still a work in progress.
Dallas Cowboys (vs. NYJ)
How ’bout them Cowboys?
No team in the league looked more dominant than the Cowboys in Week 1 of the NFL season. Team morale is soaring heading back to Dallas after their 40-0 shutout victory over the New York Giants to start the season.
The Cowboys will have the chance to complete the New York sweep in Week 2 when they face off against the Jets.
The Jets tragically lost Rodgers for the season after suffering a torn Achilles early in the first quarter of their season opener.
Dallas’ defense made life miserable for Daniel Jones and the Giants offense in Week 1, meaning Zach Wilson is looking at a tall task to generate points against this stingy defense.
Sure, the Jets’ running back duo of Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook could be a threat to make some big plays, and New York’s defense certainly won’t make things easy for Dak Prescott, Tony Pollard, and the rest of the Cowboys offense. However, I just don’t see the Jets being able to score enough points to pull off a second consecutive upset of a Super Bowl contender to start the season.
Contrarian Pick
New York Giants (@ ARI)
If you couldn’t tell from my strategy suggestion early in this article, I’m very high on the G-Men this week. New York won a playoff game just a season ago, but they were absolutely humiliated on national television in the form of a shutout loss at the hands of their division rival.
The weather conditions were horrible. The offense was horrible. The kicker was horrible. It really was a collectively terrible outing from the Giants across the board.
So why am I suggesting you pick the Giants — a team that is playing on the road — in Week 2? Well, they’re going from playing a Super Bowl-caliber team in the season opener… to an opponent that projects to be in contention for a top-five pick in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft this week.
The Cardinals failed to score an offensive touchdown against the Commanders and will likely continue to struggle to generate points with Joshua Dobbs or Clayton Tune under center.
Washington quarterback Sam Howell managed to throw for over 200 yards against this secondary, which makes me feel confident that we could see similar production from Daniel Jones this week.
Combine that with a much better outing from Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley, and the Giants are a great bounce-back candidate to pick for your survivor league in Week 2.