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The top NFL survivor pool picks for Week 18 of the 2025 NFL season. Kevin's weekly survivor league pool targets and avoids -- expert picks for survivor leagues.
Welcome to the final installment of NFL Survivor Pool Picks for Week 18! It's been a wild ride this season with upsets, peaks, and valleys, but if you're reading this, I sincerely appreciate you being here for the ride this season! It's the final week of the NFL regular season, and it could be the toughest one yet because of all of the uncertainty with several playoff teams and teams that are resting their usual starters now that they're out of playoff contention.
The end of the season, more than any other time, is one where if you don't have the top-level teams available to you, you're probably scraping the bottom of the barrel for teams to use. One of those teams that happened to have a good matchup, the Cincinnati Bengals, took care of business at home against the Arizona Cardinals. That was one of my favorite starts of the week. Anybody selecting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wasn't so lucky, as Tampa Bay continued its free fall with a loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 17.
All season long, this article will guide you through weekly survivor pool advice for each NFL week, including a handful of teams to target and several to avoid. 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 18 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
Optimize your weekly picks and plan your future picks with our free new Survivor Pool Picks Tool!
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 18
Before jumping into the survivor pool picks for Week 18, 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 check out our survivor pool pick recommendations to target and avoid for Week 18!
Top Survivor Pool Picks to Target for Week 18
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans
*My top pick for Week 18*
The main worry with Week 18 is about teams that will have something to play for. Determining which teams are going all out and playing their starters reduces a lot of the volatility in the final week of survivor pools, which is the difficult part. That particular team being available in Week 18 of your survivor pool is even more difficult.
The Jacksonville Jaguars definitely have something to play for, as they can win the AFC South just by winning their home game against the Tennessee Titans. Coming into Week 18, the Jaguars are tied with the Denver Broncos with the highest over/under of the entire slate as a 12.5-point favorite at home against the lowly Titans.
LAWRENCE STUMBLES.
LAWRENCE SCORES.@JAGUARS LEAD!KCvsJAX on ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/1cLzGVmHaJ— NFL (@NFL) October 7, 2025
In fact, the Titans cannot have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft thanks to them losing a strength-of-schedule tiebreaker to the Las Vegas Raiders. The Jaguars are on a major heater right now as winners of their last seven games, including a 25-3 drubbing of the Titans in Week 13. Taking Jacksonville here is as safe as it gets, and if the Jaguars are still available here, this is the easiest pick you can make.
Houston Texans vs. Indianapolis Colts
On the other side of the AFC South divisional race is the Houston Texans, who not only need to win but also need a Jaguars loss to clinch the division and guarantee at least one home playoff game.
While the elderly Philip Rivers has called it a career, retiring again, the Texans get to tee off on rookie quarterback Riley Leonard in their season finale. That should be fun for a Texans defense that hasn't allowed more than 21 points in a game in their last seven games.
TEXANS STRIKE FIRST WITH A 75-YARD TOUCHDOWN 🔥
HOUvsLAC on @nflnetwork
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/zyvsNMYuMi— NFL (@NFL) December 27, 2025
On Houston's end, there is a slight chance that it could pack it in mid-game and rest some starters depending on how the Jaguars are faring against the Titans, so there is that. However, the Texans are still a very strong team and should jump out to a lead that they can hold.
Despite that caveat, oddsmakers have Houston as a 10.5-point favorite at home against the Colts, so they clearly aren't very worried about Leonard leading this Colts offense. It's going to be slim pickings with what teams are left, but the Texans are a very solid choice this week if you have them available.
Other Survivor Picks in Consideration:
- Denver Broncos (vs. LAC)
- Cincinnati Bengals (vs. CLE)
- Buffalo Bills (vs. NYJ)
- Minnesota Vikings (vs. GB)
Top Survivor Pool Picks to Avoid for Week 18
Kansas City Chiefs at Las Vegas Raiders
Without Patrick Mahomes, these Kansas City Chiefs are nothing close to what they've been, or even the decent team they've been this season. They'll travel to Allegiant Stadium to play the Las Vegas Raiders in their final game of the 2025 season, where they're somehow 5.5-point road favorites.
That shows just how bad the Raiders have been this season and why, at 2-14, they're in the driver's seat for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Still, I can't help but think that the Raiders could screw it up by winning. Oh, the Chiefs will play a huge part in that as losers of the last five games. In the two games of the post-Mahomes Chiefs, Kansas City has scored a total of 22 points.
It's possible that many survivor pool gamers were holding the Chiefs for either the Tennessee game in Week 16 or this week's game against the Raiders, assuming Mahomes was going to be the starter and the Chiefs could steamroll one or the other. Now, Kansas City is likely a dead team or a team that's already been selected in pools.
I can't bring myself to trust Kansas City in Week 18, even against the worst team in the NFL by record.
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Commanders
With the announcement that the Eagles plan to rest Jalen Hurts and other starters, that makes the Philadelphia Eagles MUCH more difficult to trust in Week 18. Despite the Washington Commanders not being a very good team and the Eagles at home, the talent drop-off from the Eagles starters to if they use backups in numerous key spots is immense.
Tanner McKee is expected to start at quarterback for the Eagles in their season finale, but head coach Nick Sirianni is still playing his cards close to the vest in terms of other starters who will sit out in Week 18. No matter who they are, the Eagles are a shakier pick in survivor pools because of it, so if you have better options this week, I'd feel much better about those than selecting Philadelphia in Week 18.
Other Survivor Picks to Avoid:
- Chicago Bears (vs. DET)
- Atlanta Falcons (vs. NO)
- Dallas Cowboys (at NYG)
- Baltimore Ravens (at PIT)
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