The Best NFL Pool

Note: The rules have been updated for 2024-2025. Playoff structure and prize money are reflective of the ~300 teams that participated in last year's pool. League finances will be updated and distributed to all participants via email once the season begins.

A Brief Introduction (especially for anyone new to our game).

Basically, each week of the NFL season, you pick a dream team of NFL players! If they do well, so do you.

If you feel your knowledge of the NFL isn't all it might be, no need to worry - the game is 50% skill, 50% luck. If you have a good week, of course it's skill - if you don't, then it's bad luck!

Our regular season runs for the first 14 weeks of the NFL season, and prizes are awarded for the top six scorers each week. Our playoffs run from week 15 of the NFL season through the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs, with roughly half of the teams making the playoffs.

There isn't a better game than this during the football season!

The Basic Rules:

Each week you pick a team and submit it via this website. Your team consists of the following players/ positions:

1 Quarterback
2 Running Backs
3 Receivers (Wide Receivers/Tight Ends)
1 Place Kicker
1 "Return Team"
1 Team to score the Most points
1 Team to concede the Fewest points

There is no draft, so you can freely change whatever players you like from week to week (and, in fact, you'll have to change players because each NFL team has one bye week during the regular season).

Besides picking an all-star team, what makes it so interesting is that each of your 10 players must come from a different NFL team.

Brief Scoring Overview (Full scoring detail below):

A touchdown thrown, caught, or run in is 6 points. Yardage generally counts as 0.1 point per yard (so 100 yards = 10 points). For example, if one of your Running Backs runs for 112 yards, catches for 23 yards and scores 1 touchdown, his score would be (112*0.1) + (23*0.1) +(1*6) = 19.5 points. There are some exceptions (QB and Return Team) so please read the detailed scoring rules carefully.

Entry Fee

The entry fee for the 2024-2025 season remains at $200. Each year about 60% of the teams win some part of their stake back.

Regular Season League & Prizes

Each week during the Regular Season (which will run 14 weeks this year), the top 10 teams will receive prizes:

1st = $300 (plus automatic entry into the playoffs)
2nd = $250
3rd = $225
4th = $200
5th = $175
6th = $150
7th = $125
8th = $100
9th = $75
10th = $50

At the end of the regular season (following NFL Week 14), the following prizes will be awarded:

1st place points: $1,250 + bye in Week 1 of the playoffs
2nd place points: $1,000 + bye in Week 1 of the playoffs
3rd place points: $750 + bye in Week 1 of the playoffs
4th place points: $500 + bye in Week 1 of the playoffs
5th place points: $250 + bye in Week 1 of the playoffs
6th-10th: $100 + bye in Week 1 of the playoffs
11th-20th: $50 + bye in Week 1 of the playoffs
21st-40th: bye in Week 1 of the playoffs (up from 30 teams in past years)

Playoff Format (Which changes each year depending of the number of participating teams)

At the conclusion of the regular season (at the end of NFL Week 14), the top 118 teams will qualify for the playoffs (each season, the number of teams qualifying for the playoffs depends upon the total number of teams in the pool). Additionally, any team winning a week in the regular season (regardless of their season-long standing) will automatically qualify for the playoffs.

The playoff structure is as follows (each week about 40% of teams move on):

1st round of the playoffs (Week 15 of the NFL season): Top 34 teams (of the ~82 participating) move on
2nd round of the playoffs (Week 16 of the NFL season): Top 30 teams (of the ~74 participating) move on
3rd round of the playoffs (Week 17 of the NFL season): 12 teams move on
4th round of the playoffs (Week 18 of the NFL season): 5 teams move on
Grand Finals (Wild Card Weekend)

Each round of the playoffs will be based on total points scored.

Increasing prize money will be awarded for each round of the playoffs. While final amounts will depend upon the number of teams participating, teams making the final 16 will win sufficient prize money to cover their entry fee:

1st round losers will get $50
2nd round losers will get $100
3rd round losers will get $300
4th round losers will get $500
Grand Finalists will get $500 (5th), $1,000 (4th), $2,000 (3rd), $3,000 (2nd) and $7,000 (1st)

Detailed Scoring/Rules of the Game

Each week, teams will select a "Dream Team" of NFL players consisting of the following:

Quarterback (One selected per Week)
- This is scored as a team position, so the passing yards, INTs, etc. of all players designated on the roster as a QB are added together
- Points are scored as follows:
  - 6 points for a TD thrown, run, or caught
  - 2 points deducted for an interception
  - 2 points deducted for a fumble lost
  - 0.1 point per passing yard multiplied by the completion percentage (so 250 yards passing at a 60% completion percentage = 15 points)
  - 0.1 points for any rushing (or receiving) yardage.
  - 2 points for a 2-point conversions thrown, run or caught
- Any passing TD's coming from non-QB players (e.g., if the RB throws a TD pass) DO NOT count toward the score of the QB. The QB position ONLY scores points earned by those players designated on the roster as a QB
- Also, a Team QB (or any selected position player) can only score TD points once on a single play (which essentially means if a QB throws a TD to another QB, it will only count as 1 QB TD). Of course, if a QB (or another position player) happens to throw a pass that gets deflected, and then he catches the pass and scores, we'll have to make a manual override and credit the player with 2 TDs

Running Backs (Two selected per Week)
- 6 points for a TD run, caught or thrown
- 0.1 points for each yard rushing or receiving
- 2 points deducted for a fumble lost
- 2 points for a 2-point conversion run, caught or thrown

Standard rules for passing (0.1 per yard times comp%)

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends (Three selected per Week)
- 6 points for a TD run, caught or thrown
- 0.1 points for each yard rushing or receiving
- 2 points deducted for a fumble lost
- 2 points for a 2-point conversion run, caught or thrown
- Standard rules for passing (0.1 per yard times comp%)

Kicker (One selected per Week)
- 0.1 points for each yard of a successful field goal
- 1 point is awarded for each Point After Touchdown.
- 6 points for a TD run, caught or thrown
- Standard rules for passing (0.1 per yard times comp%), rushing (0.1/yard), and receiving yards (0.1/yard)
- As in the QB, you are picking the Team Kicker here

Return Team (One selected per Week)
- 0.1 points per every 2 yards on Kickoffs and Punts (Return yardage from Interceptions, Fumble Recoveries, Blocked Kicks and Missed Field Goals does not count)
- 2 points for each Interception or Recovered Fumble
- 6 points for a TD scored on a Kickoff, Punt, or Interception Return
- 6 points for TDs scored by Defense or Special Teams from Fumble Recoveries, Blocked/Missed FG's or Blocked Punts (though no points are scored for the yardage).
- 2 points for forcing a Safety
- If your Receiver/Running Back happens to also play on Special Teams (returns Punts or Kickoffs) these points are scored ONLY for the Return Team and not the individual player
- If a single play involves multiple fumbles/interceptions, points are rewarded for each turnover, not just the net outcome of the play

Team to score Most, a.k.a. "The Plus Team" (One selected per Week): The Team that you pick gets 1/2 of the number of points they score in the game (e.g., if the team scores 27 points, 13.5 points are added to your score)

Team to concede the Fewest, a.k.a. "The Minus Team" (One selected per Week) - The Team that you pick loses 1/2 of the points they concede in the game (e.g., if the team concedes 14 points, then 7 points are deducted from your score). Once again, THIS IS *NOT* THE TEAM YOU THINK WILL SCORE THE FEWEST POINTS -- it's the team you think will CONCEDE the fewest points

Other Important Things to Note

Each of your 10 picks must come from 10 DIFFERENT NFL TEAMS!

Your "Plus" and "Minus" teams cannot be two teams playing each other (you would just end up with a net score of zero)

Players you pick that don't play (or play but don't touch the ball) will score 0.0 for that pick.

You may modify picks in your entry up until kick-off of the FIRST GAME of the day

So all picks for Thursday, Saturday and Monday games must be in before the start of the first game on that day
And ALL picks for ALL Sunday games must be entered before the first game kicks off (usually 1pm Eastern). Once that game kicks off, you cannot make changes to your 4pm or 8pm selections
The only exception to the above is for Sunday morning games (played in Europe), which will be treated as a Thursday/Saturday/Monday game -- picks for those games must be in by game time, but other Sunday games/picks are not locked at the start of the Sunday morning game

The weekly NFL schedule is posted on the entry page. Individual picks are revealed to everyone after kick-off of their respective NFL games.

If you do not submit your picks for the week:
- On the first occasion (up until Week 13) you will be allocated a below-average score for that week (~10th percentile score)
- A second offense (or in Week 14), will get the lowest score of the week - nobody limps into the playoffs
- A third offense will score you a zero

In the late stages of the playoffs, we will require the participants to make additional picks to act as tiebreakers in the event of two teams being the same.

Stats in espn.com are used as gospel in our scoring. Experience tells us that even they are not infallible. However, in the unlikely event of a misprint, etc., then common sense always prevails.

Finally, the website has been updated to pull (nearly) real-time game stats from espn.com box scores. Please note, however, that the real-time scoring is UNOFFICIAL and is subject to change. OFFICIAL scoring will be posted approximately 18-24 hours after the NFL games have concluded.