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The top NFL survivor pool picks for Week 12 of the 2025 NFL season. Kevin's weekly survivor league pool targets and avoids -- expert picks for survivor leagues.
With seven short weeks remaining in the NFL regular season, welcome back to our NFL Survivor Pool Picks for Week 12! Congratulations if you're still alive in your Survivor pool, as there's still a lot of work left to do to be the last entrant standing, but we'll help get you there every week! Week 11 had a lot of close finishes with two overtime games, plus seven other games with scores within one possession.
Two of last week's chalk picks, like Houston and Baltimore, were on the ropes but ultimately prevailed. There were no big upsets by teams expected to lose, but some of the mid-tier teams that people selected as contrarian picks, like the Falcons and Chargers, both lost. If you still have some heavyweight teams remaining, you're in a great position to do well, as a lot of these teams' schedules get much softer moving forward. Of course, that benefits us in Survivor pools.
All season long, this article will help guide you through weekly Survivor Pool advice for each NFL week, with a handful of teams to target and several teams to avoid using each week. Survivor league strategy is a major part of winning your pools, so we'll help dissect each pick with all angles accounted for. We'll be previewing Week 12 of the NFL season through a Survivor Pool lens, with more information and data points about each team to help guide you on your quest to win your Survivor pool!
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Survivor Pool Tools and Resources
Love Survivor pools as much as we do? Of course you do. Be sure to check these out:
Survivor Picks Tool
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Survivor League Guide
For detailed Survivor pool strategy and tips to help you win, check out our "How To Win Your Survivor League" guide!
Implied Point Totals, Point Spreads, and Over/Under Totals for Week 12
Before jumping into the Survivor pool picks for Week 12, it's helpful to get an overview of the slate with implied point totals, point spreads, and over/under totals from betting markets. All lines come courtesy of FantasyLabs each week.
Let's look at the Survivor pool pick recommendations to target and avoid for Week 12!
Top Survivor Pool Picks to Target for Week 12
Seattle Seahawks at Tennessee Titans
*My top pick for Week 12*
We're sticking with one of the main themes, the "leitmotif" of this Survivor Pool article this season: anybody who plays the Tennessee Titans. Luckily, it's a strong team that has a solid chance of still being available to quite a few surviving Survivor pool gamers. The Seattle Seahawks draw this assignment and are tied with the Baltimore Ravens as Week 12's largest favorite, as Seattle is favored by 13.5 points over the basement-dwelling Titans.
Despite Sam Darnold throwing four interceptions, the Seahawks only lost to the Rams by two points. I don't think we'll have to worry about that too much, as even with this game in Tennessee, this could be a repeat of Seattle's thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals from Week 10. In that game, Seattle immediately got out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and then stormed to a 38-7 halftime lead.
Adjusted EPA + Grade Leaderboard after week 11
-- Darnold no longer lapping the field and is now barely on top
-- PFF really has not liked Mahomes this year— Ben Baldwin (@rbsdm.com) November 19, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Seattle is a perfect 5-0 against teams with a losing record and has won by an average margin of 17.6 points, so this should be a cakewalk. The Seahawks don't have much future value for the rest of the season in Survivor Pool, with a lone matchup at home against the Vikings that could be attractive if J.J. McCarthy is still starting. If I still have Seattle available, I'm going with them this week against the hapless Titans.
San Francisco 49ers vs. Carolina Panthers
The San Francisco 49ers have been a mixed bag this season. They started off the season winning three straight games, but since Week 4, they've alternated wins and losses. Coming off an emphatic 41-22 win over the Arizona Cardinals, Brock Purdy started his first game since Week 4. The 49ers looked noticeably more confident, and even though their young defense may keep them in more competitive games than they'd like, Purdy and the general health of the 49ers' offense make them a bit more solid of a pick.
San Francisco is a 7.0-point favorite at home against the Carolina Panthers, and it's a team that star running back Christian McCaffrey has never faced. McCaffrey, a member of the Panthers as a rookie in 2017 until his 2022 trade, was a member of the Panthers the last time they played San Francisco in Week 5 of 2022, and just two weeks later, was traded to the 49ers.
Most receiving yards in the 2nd half of games this season: Christian McCaffrey 🤯
See the full leaderboard here: www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tin...
— Pro Football Reference (@pro-football-reference.com) November 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
With the 49ers hitting their stride and the Panthers playing their third away game in four games, now's the time to go with San Francisco for Survivor pools if you need a win and don't want to use one of your "heavyweight" options. While the 49ers have Tennessee on the schedule in Week 15, we're at the point in the season where it's a bit harder to plan for future matchups with just seven weeks remaining.
Other Survivor Picks in Consideration:
- New England Patriots (at CIN)
- Baltimore Ravens (vs. NYJ)
Top Survivor Pool Picks to Avoid for Week 12
Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings
This game is incredibly confusing for a lot of people, myself included, as a Packers fan. Knowing this team, it could go several different ways. The Packers are at home in this divisional matchup and are favored by 6.5 points against the Vikings, who, as the kids say, are "going through it." McCarthy has been THE worst starting quarterback in adjusted EPA per play this season, per Ben Baldwin.
McCarthy has four interceptions and just two touchdown passes in his last two home games, and now has to go to Lambeau Field to play the Packers? On the same token, the Packers haven't looked the best themselves. The Packers' defense has only forced eight turnovers this season in 10 games, the fourth-lowest rate in the NFL.
With Green Bay having health issues at multiple offensive positions, the lack of takeaways, and a divisional game, I'd still rather not chance it with the Packers this week. I'm staying away and looking for much cleaner setups with just seven weeks left in the season.
Los Angeles Rams vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This one looks a little bit wild on paper; we're avoiding one of the best teams in the league in the Los Angeles Rams? Sure, they're 6.5-point favorites at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, Tampa has been on a bit of a skid lately, losing three of its last four games. They've also lost to the Lions, beaten the Saints, and then lost two more in a row against the Patriots and Bills. Those are losses that could go either way on the schedule.
Meanwhile, the Rams are on a five-game heater and beat the Seahawks at home 21-19. In a game that meant a lot for NFC playoff seeding, it's possible that the Buccaneers could be creeping up on the Rams at the right time. In what looks to be one of the highest-scoring games of Week 12, this game has a 49.5-point over/under and is on Sunday Night Football.
Look, we all love the Rams, we love the fireworks they're putting up on offense, and their defense (second-best defense in EPA per play this season) has been lights out. But there are better spots to use the Rams. Like next week in Carolina, or in Week 14 against the Arizona Cardinals. Maybe even in Atlanta against what is likely the Kirk Cousins-led Atlanta Falcons in Week 17? Save the Rams if you have them for those matchups.
Other Risky Survivor Picks:
- Buffalo Bills (at HOU)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (at ARI)
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