Mapping out a season-long strategy is the key to success in making your NFL survivor picks. Week 1 may look easy by just taking the strongest team with the easiest opponent and worrying about Week 2 later. But things rarely seem to work out very well when doing that. Look at last year if you need a refresher. A lot of survivor pool entrants saw an easy win with an 8-point favorite in Cincinnati against visiting New England. Reality, however, hit hard when the Patriots posted a 16-10 upset win.

Although you don't always want to avoid heavy favorites early, using strategy and a look ahead at the schedule can help you decide if you should use favorites like the Eagles (-7.5) or Commanders (-6) in Week 1. Before finalizing any Week 1 NFL survivor picks, you need to see which team proven expert R.J. White is backing.

White has been SportsLine's No. 1 NFL against-the-spread expert over the last eight years, going 718-623-37 against the spread to put him up more than 32 units on those picks at SportsLine since 2017. He has also delivered a 55% hit rate on his Vegas contest picks over the last 10 seasons and has two finishes in the money, including finishing 18th out of 2,748 entries back in 2017. He knows the NFL at a level that few do, making him the perfect expert to give NFL survivor pool strategy tips. 

Now, White has turned his attention to the latest Week 1 NFL odds and locked in his Week 1 survivor pool pick. You can only see who White is backing this week at SportsLine. You can also bet the NFL at DraftKings, where new users can also target the DraftKings promo code, which offers $300 in bonus bets instantly plus over $200 off NFL Sunday Ticket:

Top Week 1 NFL survivor pool predictions 

White has studied his 2025 NFL Week 1 options, and there are a number of smart ways bettors should consider. Looking ahead at the schedule and mapping out his strategy, he suggests avoiding the Denver Broncos in the opener against the Tennessee Titans. The Titans are a bit of an unknown, but have a talented and young roster. Rookie Cam Ward is now under center and is a dual-threat quarterback.

Also, picking Denver this early in the season could come back to bite survivor pool players, especially when looking at the Broncos' future schedule. Denver may be better used in Weeks 6 and 7 when the Broncos face the Jets and Giants in back-to-back weeks. They also play the Las Vegas Raiders in Denver on Nov. 6. See which team to pick instead here. You can bet every NFL game at bet365, where new users can check out the latest bet365 bonus code to get $200 in bonus bets after placing a $5 bet:

How to make Week 1 NFL survivor pool picks 

Instead, White says to go deep you'll need to "be comfortable with taking early risks on somewhat average teams," and he's found a surprising team to jump on in Week 1. The time to pick this team is now, and you can only see the play over at SportsLine.

Which team is a must-back in your Week 1 NFL survivor pool? Visit SportsLine now to see which team carries you to victory in Week 1, all from SportsLine's top NFL expert all time.