2023 NFL Weekly Survivor Pool: Week 2 Top Picks & Plays
It’s Week 2 of the 2023 NFL season, and we’ve got a week's worth of data points and actionable information gathered to make our Survivor pool picks for this week.
We certainly hope you’re still alive in your Survivor pool, as we’re going to help you get to the promised land one week at a time. If you’re not familiar with Survivor pools, here’s a quick rundown:
It seems simple: pick a team that wins each week. Typically, you’re choosing a team just once, so each selection is incredibly important. 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 2’s picks!
2023 Survival Picks Record
Week 1: 3-2 (.667)
Overall: 3-2 (.667)
NFL Week 2 DraftKings Odds, Implied Totals, Spreads, and Over/Under
*All lines current as of 6:00 ET, 9/13/23, courtesy of Vegas Insider*
NFL Week 2 Survivor Picks
Dallas Cowboys
If there’s a team that’s riding higher right now after Week 1, I have yet to find them. After a 40-0 drubbing of their NFC East rival New York Giants on national television, the Cowboys head home to take on a Jets team that will have to go the rest of the 2023 season without Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers played all of 4 snaps before tearing his Achilles’ and ending his season. Zach Wilson was tabbed as the Jets’ starting quarterback going forward, and to show you how confident oddsmakers are in Wilson, the implied point total for the Jets stands at 15 points, easily the lowest total of Week 2. The Cowboys are 9.5-point favorites at home and should be able to notch a victory here.
The Cowboys are the heavy chalk play this week, but if you want to ensure survival this week, you can’t go wrong with picking the Cowboys to stifle a New York football team for a second consecutive week.
Buffalo Bills
The Bills may have tripped up and given away a game to the New York Jets on Monday Night Football, but they’ll be back in Orchard Park as they take on the Las Vegas Raiders in their home opener. The Bills have the highest implied point total of the slate as it stands right now at 28.25 points and hold an almost 10-point difference to the Raiders at 18.75 points. Along with Cowboys/Jets, this Bills/Raiders game has the largest point spread, with the Bills as 9.5-point favorites.
Nobody should be judging one of the biggest preseason favorites with a largely unchanged roster so harshly after Week 1, and you shouldn’t either. I’m still putting a ton of confidence in the Bills in Week 2 to get back to the Buffalo Bills we’ve been accustomed to over the last several seasons.
New York Giants
Just look back to last week, where we said that one of the picks each week would be whoever is playing the Arizona Cardinals. The New York Giants, the same Giants who fell on their own sword at home by losing 40-0 to the hated Cowboys, head west as the 5.5-point road favorites. Just like we talked about not judging teams by their Week 1 performances, the Giants are in the same boat. The Cardinals represent a get-right spot for the Giants, as they should have a sizable talent advantage here.
Weather and the Cowboys’ defensive buzzsaw were the undoings of the Giants, but they’re facing a Cardinals team that didn’t score an offensive touchdown against the Washington Commanders and is making an on-purpose decision to trot out Joshua Dobbs as their starting quarterback.
The Giants are still one of the better teams in the NFC despite playing nothing like it in Week 1. We like the pendulum to swing back the other way in Week 2 against an inferior opponent.
Other NFL Week 2 Survivor Pool Options
New Orleans Saints
The Carolina Panthers may just be this bad. They couldn’t muster any offensive momentum on the ground or through the air and now get the Saints at home. Taking a team on the road in a divisional matchup isn’t really the most optimal play, but the fact that the Panthers and Bryce Young couldn’t put together any cohesiveness on offense against a middle-of-the-road defense like the Falcons makes me really like the Saints this week. The Saints should put up much more defensive resistance after forcing three Ryan Tannehill interceptions in Week 1. Young could very well match or exceed that type of futility.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers are a much safer option than most going on the road to face their NFC West and division rival Los Angeles Rams. As 8.0-point road favorites, San Francisco should hold a decided advantage on both sides of the ball against the Los Angeles Fightning Puka Nacuas. The 49ers were electric against the Steelers, where Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey (152 rushing yards) dusted them for three touchdowns
I do have some reticence in playing the 49ers in this spot against the Rams, considering they’ll have much better matchups to use them, like the Cardinals twice and the Buccaneers. But this week, they should be a clear favorite amongst Week 2 Survival pool players.
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Player News
Seahawks signed CB Shaquill Griffin, formerly of the Vikings.
It’s a homecoming for Griffin, who played four years in Seattle after being drafted in the third round in 2017. Griffin has sinced bounced around the league with stops in Jacksonville, Houston, Carolina, and most recently Minnesota. He appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings in 2023 and totaled six pass breakups with two interceptions. Griffin was a top flight corner in his first Seattle stint and earned a Pro Bowl nod for his efforts in 2019. While he’s more of a rotational corner at this point in his career, his return is a good fit for all parties.
Rams waived WR Quintez Cephus.
The former fifth-round pick is most famous for receiving an indefinite ban in 2023 due to betting on NFL contests. He was reinstated after a year and had brief stints on the Bills and Texans’ rosters during the offseason. LA signed him to their practice squad in 2024 but he never appeared in a game for the team. Cephus will be fighting for a roster spot this summer if he signs elsewhere.
ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe reports Browns QB Joe Flacco is the favorite to land the team’s starting job.
Wolfe added that Kenny Pickett “is gonna have the chance to steal that job from him” during training camp and in the preseason. Shedeur Sanders or Dillion Gabriel, Wolfe said, might get a look later in the 2025 season if it’s another lost season for the franchise. Flacco knows head coach Kevin Stefanski’s offense well and was productive for the Browns during his five starts in 2023. Flacco posted the third best adjusted yards per attempt (7.2) of his NFL career during that 2023 stint in Cleveland, and made fantasy superstars out of David Njoku and Amari Cooper. Stefanski said the Browns offense has “a very high floor” with Flacco under center. If Flacco begins the season as starter, look for the Browns to be among the pass-heaviest offenses in the league. It’s a potentially excellent development for Njoku, Jerry Jeudy, and perhaps Cedric Tillman.
Dallas Goedert said Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo could get him the ball more often in 2025.
Goedert said Patullo has made tweaks to the run-heavy Philadelphia offense that could create more opportunity for the team’s pass catchers. “Throughout OTAs, I’ve really loved what he’s doing with the offense,” Goedert said when asked about Patullo, who took over the Eagles offense after Kellen Moore was hired as Saints head coach. “Little changes here and there and I’m really excited for the opportunity just to — with the connection I grew with him the last four years. What he sees in me in different ways that he’s going to get me the ball I’m really excited for.” Among the game’s best yards-after-catch tight ends, Goedert will enter 2025 as the Eagles’ clear No. 3 targets behind AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. In 2024, Goedert was targeted on 25 percent of his routes, the seventh highest rate among tight ends. Goedert’s fantasy prospects would get a boost with more looks near the end zone; last season he had just three targets inside the ten yard line and nine inside the 20.
The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo believes WR Roman Wilson should be a good “fit” for Aaron Rodgers.
DeFabo mentioned that Wilson during his collegiate career at Michigan “feasted on in-breaking routes over the middle of the field at Michigan, which should fit Rodgers’ skills.” Wilson will battle Calvin Austin for the team’s WR2 role behind DK Metcalf this season. Steelers wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni said recently that Austin will enter training camp as the clear-cut No. 2 wideout with “everyone else battling for a spot” in a receiver committee. Back in May, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said Steelers coaches are “counting on” Wilson to make the jump in 2025 after injuries limited him to just five offensive snaps in 2024. Wilson, entering his age-24 season, had 789 yards and 12 touchdowns on 49 catches in his final season at Michigan. He was 19th among all college wideouts in yards per route run in 2023.
Kyler Murray said Marvin Harrison Jr. is more confident this season than he was in 2024.
Murray, per The Athletic, “has noticed a different comfort level with Harrison, a different confidence” in offseason workouts, along with a new physique after Harrison spent the winter bulking up. Murray and MHJ in 2024 had no chemistry whatsoever, especially on downfield shots, where Murray has struggled mightily for several seasons. Unless Harrison can manage to get more separation from defenders and see more intermediate and short targets from Murray, his fantasy prospects likely won’t change all that much in 2025, despite the larger biceps.