Another year another prayer to strike it rich in the NFL survivor pool. While not all possible entries can be accounted for yet, it looks like this years pool will have at least 900 entries. Multiply that by the $22 entry fee and you have a top prize of $19,800! I've decided this year to “Diversify my bonds” as the Wu-Tang financial analysts would say, and bought two entries. Each week I will give you my two picks with a short explanation.
And of course, it will be two picks the entire season because I will not get one wrong.
Let me start off with my lock pick that I would choose if only given one option. The Pittsburgh Steelers are 9 point favorites on the road against Deshone Kizer and the Cleveland Browns. A rookie quarterback on a 1-15 team playing a Super Bowl contender in the Steelers spells an easy victory. I was honestly surprised that Cleveland would throw Kizer to the wolves week 1, I'd have let Kessler absorb some punishment early so the kid could survive a season. But maybe Cleveland wants to test him early so they can draft Darnold next year when they go 1-15 again.
The Buffalo Bills are my second pick. Not hard to figure out my early season strategy, pick the two biggest favorites of the week and relax. While I actually respect Josh McCown as a professional quarterback, I just think the rest of the team is so devoid of talent that they don't stand a chance. There is also a bonus upside in this pick allowing me to use my Bills pick early. After a few white flag looking trades in the off-season, it appeared they might be in rebuild mode and likely will finish below 500.
This might be a common theme this year picking against the Browns and Jets, until I have reason to expect otherwise.