The Patriots ended last season in the Super Bowl, but they began the season with a home loss to the lowly Raiders. Many had New England in their Week 1 NFL survivor pools in 2025, but that result should serve as a warning that there are no guarantees when it comes to NFL knockout picks. If you already picked Seattle to knock off New England to start this year or the 49errs to beat the Rams, you're in good standing in NFL survivor pools.
Neither of those were popular picks, however, so most likely you still need to finalize your Week 1 NFL survivor picks ahead of the 13 games on Sunday. Visit our Kalshi promo code review to see their latest offers and get started. Claim the latest Kalshi new user offer here: Just four teams are favored by more than 5.5 points in their 2026 season openers: Steelers (-6) vs.
Saints, Jaguars (-8.5) vs. Browns and Chargers (-9.5) vs. Should you back one of them, or roll the dice a bit and try to set yourself up for more success later in the season?
Before finalizing any Week 1 NFL survivor picks, you need to see which team proven expert R.J. White has been SportsLine's No. 1 NFL against-the-spread expert over the last nine years, going 803-705-41 against the spread to put him up more than 27 units on those picks at NFL betting sites since 2017. He has also delivered a 55% hit rate on his Vegas contest picks over the last 11 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.
White has studied his 2026 NFL Week 1 survivor options, and, after evaluating not only this week but the rest of the season, he suggests avoiding the Chargers versus the Cardinals desipte the fact that the Chargers will likely be the consensus selection. L.A. is a 9.5-point favorite (-505 on the money line), which is a point clear of any other team. Not only does Los Angeles have several appetizing matchups down the road, including in Week 2 against the Raiders, but the Chargers lost to Arizona the last time they played (2024) despite being favored.
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