Just when it looked like picking on the Panthers would be the best option with Week 3 NFL survivor picks, Carolina benched Bryce Young in favor of Andy Dalton. The 37-year-old veteran is by no means a savior, but he may be an upgrade over Young, who ranked last in the league in passer rating and QBR. The spark that Dalton could provide throws a wrench into your Week 3 NFL knockout pool strategy as the Panthers visit a Raiders team that could be in a bit of a hangover mode after their shocking upset of Baltimore last week.
Other teams should be considered for Week 3 NFL knockout pool picks, and you still have 30 teams on the table this early in the season. San Francisco certainly looks like a viable option facing a Rams team that is decimated by injuries and will be without both Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. The Niners, however, are coming off a defeat of their own versus Minnesota, so they're no lock to triumph. Before finalizing any Week 3 NFL survivor picks, you need to see which team proven expert R.J. White is backing.
White has been SportsLine's No. 1 NFL against-the-spread expert over the last seven years, going 643-543-34 against the spread to put him up more than 46 units on those picks at SportsLine since 2017. He has also delivered a 56.7% hit rate on his Vegas contest picks over the last nine seasons and has two finishes in the money, including finishing 18th out of 2,748 entries back in 2017.
His advice can be used to crush the Survivor Pool format, which calls for picking one team to win each week but never using the same team twice. In Week 1, White correctly recommended to avoid the Bengals, who lost to the Patriots as 8.5-point favorites. Instead, White picked the Saints, who beat the Panthers by 37 points in the most lopsided game of the week. Then in Week 2, he avoided the Ravens, who lost to the Raiders as 8.5-point favorites, and instead backed the Texans, who defeated the Bears.
Anyone who followed his advice avoided two of the biggest NFL upsets of the season and advanced to Week 3.
Now, White has turned his attention to the latest Week 3 NFL odds and locked in his Week 3 survivor pool pick. You can only see who White is backing this week at SportsLine.
Top Week 3 NFL survivor pool predictions
In Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season, White is avoiding the Bengals (-4.5, 48.5), even though they are the biggest favorite of the week. Cincinnati will host the Commanders on Monday Night Football, but the Bengals already ended many survivor pools in Week 1 when they lost as even bigger home favorites against New England. In Week 2, the Bengals engaged in a back-and-forth game with Kansas City, ending up on the losing end. White can foresee a similar type of game with Washington, which struggles on defense but has shown it can move the ball on offense, especially via the ground game.
With Jayden Daniels, Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler, Washington ranks sixth in rushing, and that happens to be Cincinnati's defensive weakness. The Bengals have allowed the seventh-most rushing yards, and last season, just five teams allowed more rushing yards to opposing QBs than Cincinnati. Additionally, Washington has protected the ball as well as any team, as it's one of three squads without a giveaway this season. The Bengals have historically struggled in September games since Joe Burrow entered the fold, and all of that has White avoiding Cincy for Week 3 NFL survivor. See which team to pick instead here.
How to make Week 3 NFL survivor pool picks
Instead, White is backing a team whose opponent "cannot move the ball." The time to pick this team is now, and you can only see the play over at SportsLine.
Which team is a must-back in your Week 3 NFL survivor pool? Visit SportsLine now to see which team carries you to victory in Week 3, all from the expert who avoided the Bengals in Week 1 and Ravens in Week 2 and is up almost 50 units on ATS picks.
