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Pick'em Desk
Weekly pick'em previews, survivor-pool strategy and the numbers behind both, drawn from the picks DaqsPickEm members actually make each week and how those picks graded.
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Week 5 Pick'em
NFL Week 5 2026 Pick'em Preview: Experts, Model Locks, and Hot/Cold Teams
Baker Mayfield is out, the Cowboys are a touchdown-plus favorite, and the sharp money has quietly moved to Washington. Here's where to spend confidence this week.
Week 4 Pick'em
NFL Week 4 2026 Pick'em Preview: The Locks, The Traps, and Our Model's Bold Call
Which favorites to trust, which schedule traps the experts are calling out, and the contrarian upset our v2-oracle model is pounding the table on before Thursday night.
Week 3 Pick'em
NFL Week 3 Pick'em Preview: Loud Chalk, Three Trendy Upsets, and Where Our Model Fights the Crowd
Prisco's board just reshuffled, three “live dog” upsets are on every column, and our model is pounding one lock and stepping in front of the crowd on another.
Week 2 Pick'em
NFL Week 2 2026 Pick’em Preview: Experts, Locks, and the Model’s Boldest Call
The experts split on Panthers-Falcons and Jags-Broncos. Our model has a 77% lock and one game it literally can’t call. Read this before Thursday.
Week 1 Pick'em
NFL Week 1 Preview: What the Experts Are Picking — and Where Our Model Fights Back
ESPN and Pete Prisco set the market. The sharps push a line. Our AI model picks a fight with both. Your Wednesday cheat sheet before Thursday kickoff.
Week 1 Pick'em
NFL Week 1 2026 Pick'em Preview: The Only Lock, The Trap Line, and the Road Dog Our Model Won't Shut Up About
Sixteen games, nine of them coin flips, one true lock, and a Sunday slate our AI model has a very specific opinion about. Here's what to do before Thursday.
Strategy
Survivor Pool Strategy: Why the Best Pick Is Almost Never the Best Team
Survivor pools aren't about picking winners — they're about spending your teams wisely. The game theory that separates week-14 survivors from week-3 casualties.
Week 18 Rankings
2025 NFL Regular Season Standings: Three Teams at 14-3
Eighteen weeks produced a three-way tie for the best record, an 8-9 division champion hosting a playoff game, and Kansas City at 6-11. The full final standings, the stories behind them, and the bracket by seed.
Week 15 Injuries
Patrick Mahomes ACL Injury: What the Chiefs Collapse Means
Patrick Mahomes tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in Week 15 and had surgery the next night. Here is what it does to fantasy championship week, to survivor pools that have leaned on Kansas City for a decade, and to the AFC.
Week 14 Pick'em
Week 14 Survivor: Just 10 Entries Left After Saints Beat Bucs
The Saints beat the Buccaneers 24-20 and took out 62% of the remaining survivor field. Ten entries are left in an $18.7M contest, and survivor strategy works completely differently when almost nobody is alive.
Week 13 Pick'em
Thanksgiving 2025 Wiped Out 94.5% of the Survivor Pool Field
The Lions, Chiefs and Ravens all lost on Thanksgiving, the Bears upset the Eagles, and 849 entries died in a single week. The most destructive survivor slate of the year, and what it proves about picking favorites.
Week 10 Pick'em
Panthers-Packers: The Biggest Upset of 2025 Guts Survivor
Carolina won 16-13 at Green Bay as a 13-point underdog, the biggest upset of the season. Then Week 10 turned the same Panthers into the pick that ended thousands of survivor entries.
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