2023 NFL Weekly Survivor Pool: Week 10 Top Picks & Plays
Welcome to Week 10 and we’re already in the second half of 2023, which is crazy to me that we’re this far into the season when it feels like it just started. Week 9 had us immediately regretting picking an NFL team with Arthur Smith as the head coach, but it feels like only he could lose to a quarterback who had been on the team for five days. The New England Patriots also lost in a 20-17 “not a shootout” shootout. We persist and hope you’re in the hunt and still standing in your Survivor Pool!
We will help you get to the promised land one week at a time with our picks, but in case you’re not familiar with Survivor pools, here’s a quick rundown.
Pick a team that wins in each NFL week. Typically, you choose a team just once, so each selection is essential. Some survivor pools have double-elimination so that you can slip up and still be in the running. Make sure you’re checking out our weekly matchup previews and our Survivor League Strategy in the Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide as guides toward picking the best winners for each week and developing a strategy.
Let’s dive right in with Week 10’s picks!
2023 Survival Pool Picks Record
Week 9: 3-2 (.600)
Overall: 33-12 (.733)
NFL Week 10 DraftKings Odds, Implied Totals, Spreads, and Over/Under
*All lines current as of 11:00 PM ET, 11/7/23, courtesy of Vegas Insider*
NFL Week 10 Survivor Picks
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears may not be a great, good, or even an average NFL team, but one thing is for sure: they’re damn sure better than the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers look abysmal and come into their Thursday Night Football matchup with Chicago as 3.5-point underdogs and with the third-lowest implied point total at 17.5. They also are likely not to have edge rusher Brian Burns either, as he suffered a concussion versus the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9 and is unlikely to make it out of concussion protocol in time for Thursday night.
At the very least, the Bears’ Tyson Bagent looks like a viable quarterback compared to Bryce Young, who the Panthers have to be feeling some buyer’s remorse after selecting Young over C.J. Stroud, who is lighting up worlds with the Texans.
It could be a sweat, but this is likely the only time you can use the Chicago Bears for the rest of the season.
Dallas Cowboys
The chalk of chalk plays, the Cowboys are a massive 16.5-point favorite against the New York Giants, who trot out Tommy DeVito to the wolves on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Nothing about the Giants’ offense exhibits confidence that they can consistently move the ball. They could legitimately score zero points in both matchups this season. Remember, the Giants did lose 40-0 at home against Dallas in Week 1, and this matchup is in Dallas.
The only roadblock to playing Dallas this week is that they have the Carolina Panthers next week, but hey, we’re trying to advance. If you haven’t played the Cowboys, the next three weeks are the best options for the rest of the season, with the NY Giants, at Carolina, and home vs. Washington coming up.
Buffalo Bills
With the Bills tied for the second-highest implied point total (27.25) in the confines of Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, they should be very comfortable handling the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football in the second-to-last island game of Week 10.
Buffalo has hit a lull over their last five games after dominating the Miami Dolphins 48-20 in Week 4. All of their games have been one-score contests, and are due to impose their will on a sub-par opponent like the Broncos. Sure, the Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs into their Week 9 bye last week, but the Bills are the better team here. Vegas thinks so as well, with the Bills 7.5-point favorites at home. It’s easy motivation for the Bills here to reestablish themselves as an AFC power, in case some people forgot.
Other NFL Week 10 Survivor Pool Options
Cincinnati Bengals
The market might be a little more hands-off picking the Bengals after C.J. Stroud’s almost 500-yard day and five touchdowns, but the Bengals are playing their best football of the season with Tee Higgins and, most importantly, Joe Burrow healthy. They could not have Ja'Marr Chase due to a back injury, but this gives off the air of the one Joe Mixon smash game we get each season.
The Bengals are 6.5-point favorites at home against the Texans, who may struggle more than we think with Cincinnati’s defense, and feel like one of the better plays on a slate where the Chiefs, Dolphins, and 49ers are all on bye.
Indianapolis Colts
The Colts and Patriots head to Frankfurt, Germany, as former AFC East rivals square off Sunday morning to kick off the slate for Week 10. While the Dolphins and Chiefs was the tasty appetizer and dinner, the bill finally arrived with this game. The Colts are slight 1.5-point favorites, but the Patriots still seem overmatched, as they’ve put up more than 20 points just once this season and haven’t been able to stop most offenses.
I’m trusting Gardner Minshew to hand the ball off to Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss, control the clock, and dominate the Patriots without much threat of an answer from Patriots quarterback Mac Jones and his decimated receiving corps.
Player News
Patriots signed RB Trayveon Williams, formerly of the Bengals.
Henderson was passed on the Cincinnati depth chart by Chase Brown last year and the team even traded for Khalil Herbert midseason. Despite having no role on offense, Williams was active for all 17 games as a special teamer. He will likely hold a similar role in New England if he cracks the team’s 53-man roster.
Free agent RB Jordan Mims worked out for the Patriots.
The Pats also worked out former Bengals running back Trayveon Williams. Mims ran 20 times for 70 yards in 2024 while adding 12 catches for 71 yards through the air. He also got some run on special teams. The Patriots are looking for some extra depth at running back, but there isn’t room for another fantasy-relevant option behind Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson.
Jaguars signed TE Quintin Morris, formerly of the Bills, to a one-year contract.
Morris is purely a blocking tight end. He caught just 15 passes during his three years with the Bills, though he did manage to find the end zone three times. Morris will back up Brenton Strange in Jacksonville.
Ravens signed Derrick Henry to a two-year, $30 million contract extension.
Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Henry is the first running back over the age of 30 to make $15 million per year. Henry hit the open market at the peak of the “running backs don’t matter” discourse and signed a measly two-year, $16 million deal with the Ravens last offseason. He spent the 2025 season stuffing nerds in lockers with 1,921 yards and 16 touchdowns on 325 attempts. The monstrous season more than earned him a raise and the Ravens knew the assignment. Rapoport noted that Henry wants to finish his career in Baltimore and the extension will give him the opportunity to do so.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reports Packers C Elgton Jenkins is skipping offseason workouts for contract reasons.
Jenkins is being moved to center ahead of the 2025 season. He is a left guard by trade but has also spent time at both tackle spots during his six years in Green Bay. The Packers signed him to a four-year, $68 million extension in 2022 that runs through 2026. The deal initially made him a highly-paid guard. It now has him as one of the league’s most expensive centers. The Packers could save $20 million by cutting Jenkins next offseason, something they would likely do unless Jenkins is immediately one of the league’s best centers. Jenkins, in turn, is almost certainly looking to up his guarantees on the final two years of the contract. Though, as Demovsky points out, the Packers rarely adjust contracts this far from their expiration, Jenkins could be the exception to the rule.
Dak Prescott said George Pickens is “more than a 50-50 catcher.”
Prescott in a Wednesday morning radio interview was effusive in his praise of Pickens, who was traded last week from the Steelers to Dallas in exchange for draft compensation. “You put the ball anywhere in his vicinity, very strong hands,” Prescott said of Pickens. “He’s more than a 50-50 catcher. ... I’m excited for him. I know that we need some help at that position.” Pickens, 24, has 2,841 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns over three NFL seasons and is widely expected to see more single coverage in Dallas than he did as the unquestioned No. 1 wideout in Pittsburgh. Opposing coverage units won’t be able to shade safeties toward his side of the field with CeeDee Lamb threatening the middle of the field. Pickens shapes up as a volatile WR2/3 in 2025.